String of Life
by swift56
Summary: We die only when we are forgotten, so let us keep the memories of the past close to our heart, so that we may live on through eternity.
1. Prologue

**Out of nowhere!**

 **Notice anything about this story?**

 **Yeah, M Rating, there's going to be graphic nudity and violence, no sex, but still, some pretty accurate body descriptions.**

 **Now, quick note, this story begins a bit of time before Ryuko arrived at Honnouji, roughly a month and a half exactly.**

 **So, yeah, we got some time before KLK canon.**

 **Also, as it stated on my profile, this story is taking the place of the Ghost story for the multiverse rider project.**

 **Changes are still underway for the others, and considering what we learned for Zi-O today, we're making plans to have our own version for him, because he got shot and killed before he was even out the gate.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy this.**

* * *

Japan, Western Kanto area, a run down motel with a sign so broken nobody knows the name anymore, room 4.

A black haired girl with a red streak in her hair slowly wakes up from where she was sleeping on the bed, opening her greyish blue colored eyes that held gear shaped pupils, and glancing down when she felt a weight on her stomach, lifting up the blanket, seeing her pajamas, and an arm across her stomach, following it to see a brown haired boy snoring silently with his mouth wide open, his head pressing into her side, he was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, and while his eyes were closed, she knew how weird they were.

Now, normally a girl would panic at the sight of a boy cuddling up to them in bed, and were she younger, it was likely she would have done this.

But she'd known this boy since pre-school, and he was like her shadow, always close, and always willing to help, so at this point, she was just used to it.

She found herself smiling a bit, before her expression fell as her eyes glanced to the side.

On the floor was a metal guitar case that held her belongings, sitting on top of it was duffel bag that held her friend's belongings, and leaning against the wall was the oddest shaped sword, currently wrapped up in cloth.

3 Months...that's how long it had been since they started this journey. 3 Months since she'd lost her father.

She was never that close with the man, but he did take care of her and raise her, and she remembered him being genuinely happy when she made a friend and brought the boy home.

That was why it had hurt so much to arrive back home on that day and see him with a blade through his stomach.

He was killed by one of his own creations, that much he had managed to tell her, the scissor blade spearing him having been made by his own hand, and it was part of a pair.

She managed to barely catch a glimpse of the person that killed him, running away with the other half of the blade in hand, before her home was then engulfed by flames, her friend barely managing to get out, having continued to listen to her father, and he held the blade in his hand, telling her that her father's last wishes were for her to make use of the blade. And make use of it she did. In the last 3 months, she'd practiced extensively with it, and by now she'd been able to wield it quite proficiently. At the same time, she'd set out to find her father's murderer, both to avenge him AND to find out why he was killed. Maybe it wasn't the most healthy of paths, something her friend had brought up out of concern...but as things were, she needed this for closure.

He wasn't really happy about it, and she knew it, but even then...he still chose to help her. And what a help he was. She wouldn't deny she had a...temper problem...at times...and he helped both keep it in check, and act as a sort of 'Good Cop' to her 'Bad Cop' when they were questioning potential leads.

As she was reminiscing, she felt his arm move, but not in a half asleep way, as it instead moved to grip her abdomen, almost like a hug, while her friend's head moved out from under the covers, resting itself on the pillow right next to her, their faces just a few inches apart as he opened his eyes and she stared into the rainbow colored orbs.

"Still thinking about your old man." he said, not a question, a statement, he knew her well enough by now after all.

She simply nodded, before he rested his forehead against hers, and she fought to keep down a blush at the proximity.

"We'll find the bitch that did it Ryuko, I promise." he said with a tired smile.

Ryuko smiled back, grateful for the support, before she used the hand closest to him to pat his stomach "Your turn to have the bathroom first this morning Taiki."

He chuckled as he leaned away from her and sat up, stretching his arms a bit before he got out of bed "I won't be long." he said as he stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him, and she soon heard the shower turn on.

A blush finally came to her face as she grabbed his pillow and covered her head with it, shouting into it, but the noise was all muffled thankfully.

She eventually pulled the pillow away, and looked towards the bathroom, biting her lip as she toyed with the hem of her pajama pants, considering relieving herself, before thinking better of it.

When Taiki said he'd be fast, he never lied, and he would definitely pick up the scent of her wetness covering the sheets, and worst of all, he would TOTALLY see the huge soaked spot on her crotch in her pajamas.

No, instead she'd wait for her turn in the shower, besides, she was sure that it was the kind with a detachable shower head, so, bonus points right there that would help her do it faster.

She really hated that just being close to him like that was enough to flip her switch.

It sure as hell didn't help that he openly admitted his feelings for her, and that she had never denied or rejected him, just saying she didn't have an answer yet.

But she knew that was just her lying to herself and that she wanted to scream yes and have him jump her bones and rock her world.

She snuck a peak before, she knew what he was packing, and she knew she'd love it.

Several minutes passed as she heard the shower being turned off.

She sat on the edge of the bed, the blanket covering her just a bit so he wouldn't see her obvious wetness, and when he stepped out with just a towel around his waist she almost screamed because she knew he was doing it on purpose, his lean body was on full display, with some light muscles from him working out with her at times, he honestly looked like an olympic swimmer, that smirk he sent her way sure as hell didn't help either.

Fucking roguish looks that made her want to grind against his face.

Why did he have to look NOTHING like a typical japanese man?!

Oh, right, they suspected his heritage was only half japanese, he had the eyes sure, but the rest of his build screamed north america.

No way to make sure though since his first memory is an orphanage, and that orphanage just found him at their doorstep one day.

Anyway, as soon as he stepped towards his bag to grab his clothes she ran into the bathroom, and when she spotted herself in the mirror, it was no wonder he smirked, considering her cheeks were red, and her girls were poking through her pajamas, hard enough to cut a diamond.

Sighing at how obvious she was, she decided to just undress so she could try and destress in the shower, looking at herself in the mirror a bit.

She had some obvious muscle despite being a girl, she needed to considering how heavy the scissor blade was, and she had a nice set of abs on her stomach, that became more visible when she flexed. She then glanced down to her girls, she had honestly stopped buying bras a while ago, but she was sure she was around a high C cup if not low D by now, and considering how they had grown recently, she was thinking of starting to buy them again so they don't reach a point of slapping her in the face, oh, she was far from that, but you never knew. She glanced at how wet her pajama bottoms were after that, before looking between her legs. Great, dripping, that was how bad she was, at least she was shaven, though it looked to be growing back again, so she'd need a new razor.

Sighing, she decided to at least take care of her main issue for the moment, getting into the shower and turning it on, letting the warm water wash over, before she grabbed the shower head with a light grin and brought it between her legs along with a hand, biting her lips less she make a sound.

Meanwhile, while Ryuko was getting her rocks off, Taiki had dropped his towel was looking through his bag, his 'little partner' hanging between his legs, and Ryuko seemed to like them on the big side without being extreme. It really wasn't a secret they had feelings for each other...but Ryuko wasn't ready to go any further than friends, and as much as he'd love to take things further...he knew that she had enough on her plate as is. Besides, he respected her too much to push her and bug her about it… that didn't mean he didn't act like a boyfriend at times, but she never complained about it, and he KNEW she knew that if she asked him to, he'd stop.

Idly, he looked at both his bag and Ryuko's case.

The two were VERY old. They actually used them back in grade school, Ryuko's still porting a metal plate bolted into it that read 'Matoi R.' while his bag had 'Kujira T.' sown into the front.

He smirked as he remembered that Ryuko had gotten her guitar case by beating up an older kid and swiping it from their parents trunk when they came to pick him up, while he himself had just gotten his bag from a lost and found at one of the schools they went to, having sown his name into it himself, while her father had bolted the plate with her name onto her guitar case.

After that, he got his clothes out, starting with his boxers before moving to his blue pants and an orange t shirt with a black jacket over it, a pair of sandals on his feet.

Once he finished putting on his clothes, he heard the shower turn off, hearing some wet footsteps behind the door after a moment, before it opened slightly, and an arm stuck out from the crack in the door frame "Clothes please." Ryuko requested.

"What do you want today?" He asked as he picked up her case and opened it.

"Panties don't matter, but I want the red shorts and the black shirt." she asked, and he grabbed a random pair of panties along with the clothes she requested before placing them in her hand "Thanks." she said before retracting her arm and closing the door back up.

He chuckled a bit at how nonchalant she was about him handing her clothes over, before looking around the motel room they had rented, until his eyes fell on the blade she kept wrapped up.

It really was strange, seeing those taunt strings that seemed to have been melded together to make the sword, the same strings he could see glowing softly underneath Ryuko's skin when he focused on them.

He always did wonder why the hell he was able to see those weird strings, and what the hell they were at that.

He didn't see them in many places… except when they passed by a store that was owned by Revocs, then every piece of clothing inside was practically crawling with the strings.

Ryuko knew he could see them, and the fact she had them under her skin concerned her, especially when he pointed out that her father's sword was made of a large mass of them stuck together in a very dense package. That was ANOTHER reason for them going on this trip. For as long as she knew him, she'd known he wasn't 'normal', namely he was what many would call an Esper, able to see things other people couldn't...and among the many things he saw, the strange threads were among the most common. What were they? Why were they inside of Ryuko's body? And why did they seem to be on all clothes that were made by the famed 'Revocs' company? Those were some things they'd hoped they could find out.

After a few minutes of him thinking, the bathroom door opened again, this time Ryuko stepped out with her black shirt and red shorts, holding both of their pajamas and stuffing them in a plastic bag till they found a laundromat. "What's on the agenda today besides get our shit cleaned?"

"I think skip town was a part of it, you kind of pissed off the local gang yesterday, so they'll probably come after us with more people today." Taiki shot back dryly.

"So find a laundromat in the next town over, got it." Ryuko said with a nod as she grabbed her hoodie and threw the plastic bag at him which he then stuffed into his bag before zipping it up.

"Well, let's get out of here then. Good thing we paid in advance so we just need to leave the keys," Taiki shrugged as they both hefted their bags and soon exited the motel which was at the edge of town, a choice they purposely made so they could get out as soon as possible.

It wasn't long before they were on the road again, looking at a map as to where they're going next. However, along the way… "Active strings at 10 o'clock," Taiki said, as they were passing what appeared to be a salesman who looked a bit down. He could see he had strings in his clothes, and they were glowing, something that usually wasn't a good thing.

"Got it," Ryuko nodded as she went for her scissor blade. "Where is it?"

"Lower back. Mind the belt though. Don't think he'll appreciate suddenly dropping his pants," Taiki said.

Ryuko nodded, and with a quick, blindsiding strike, the salesman lost his shirt, while Taiki grabbed the glowing strings and stuffed them into a doggy bag, where they were was already a yarn ball of the strings bunched up together. The two of them got away before he could really notice them. Once they were a sufficient distance away… "Gotta wonder what these are...and why the scissors your dad made are so effective against them…" Taiki sighed as he looked at the yarn ball worth of threads.

"It's not like there was a clue inside the burning wreckage." Ryuko sighed as they walked on.

"Says the girl who didn't try to look for a basement." Taiki said dryly, with Ryuko looking away, not bothering to answer that.

"Yeah well, where are we headed next?" she sighed.

"Well...our biggest clue should probably be this place called Honno-" Taiki started, but didn't get to finish. Not when the sound of something piercing filled the air. Taiki and Ryuko barely had time to register what happened, as Taiki suddenly found himself speared through the chest...with a purple blade shaped like…

"That's the other half!" Ryuko gasped in surprise, before the scissor blade was suddenly pulled away too fast for either of them to react...not that it mattered, as her focus was now on the puddle of blood that now stained the ground as Taiki looked like he'd barely registered what happened before he fell forward, landing in the pool.

"Taiki!" Ryuko shouted in a panic as she crouched down, flipping him over onto his back, wincing when she saw that the sword had actually speared his heart "Fuck… fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!"

"What… what just?" Taiki said weakly as he grasped at the wound.

"Don't talk!" Ryuko snapped "Save your strength! Dammit! There's gonna be something I can do!"

"Don't… bother… my heart's shot… I'd need a miracle to live…" he said, looking at her and grabbing her hand as she kept fussing over him, it was one of the rare times that he was seeing her crying.

"But… fuck… you're my best friend dammit!" She raged as she punched the ground.

"That's why...I'm not gonna lie...I'm dead no matter how you look at it…" he managed to say weakly. "Sorry Ryuko….keep...going...without me. Take care of yourself...okay…?" he said as he managed to put a bloodstained hand on her cheek.

She grabbed hold of his hand, looking at him, hating herself for being so fucking weak that her best friend was dying right in front of her, killed by the same bitch that killed her dad.

Suddenly, his hand fell out of her grasp, hitting the road limply, and she could only stare in horror at his vacant, glassy eyed stare, her reflection visible in his now dull eyes.

"No… no, no, NO!" Ryuko screamed, sobbing against his chest, uncaring as she got his blood on herself. The girl continued sobbing into her lost friend's chest. Again...she'd lost someone again...the reality hit her like a cold bucket of water.

"Poor girl…" a cold voice said.

"It is sad how short the lives of these humans are...no matter, that cut thread of life can be put to better use," another voice, equally cold, said.

She kept her head against Taiki's chest as her sobs died down, hearing those strange, almost phantom like voices, coming from in front of her from the looks of it.

She could hear faint footsteps heading towards her, and when they were close enough, she moved.

A second later and her scissor blade was slashing across a rather ghostly figure, she could barely see it, but her weapon could definitely hurt it, if the scream of pain and stumbling back was any indication.

"Can she see us?" the other voice suddenly said.

"She can definitely hurt us," the one she'd cut grunted out as he clutched his wound.

"Then her soul must be particularly strong," the other said. "Let's harvest it too."

"Seconded," the first voice growled.

"Harvest my soul? Is that what you fuckers were gonna do with my friend? Well… I won't fucking let you! He may be dead… but I'll at least make sure he can rest in peace!" she said as she stepped in between the two figures and Taiki's corpse after closing his eyes. "So bring it!" she growled as she brandished her scissor blade.

* * *

Taiki felt like he was floating, as if he was in water...that's when he broke the surface and gasped. Apparently he WAS in water...though how he got there...was beyond him…

"What… what just happened?" he said as he walked out of the water, seeing the drops sliding off of him and leaving him dry, confusing him even more "Didn't I die? The last thing I remember is Ryuko's tears."

"You are indeed dead young man." said a wisenned old voice from, well, everywhere around him, before a figure seeming to fade into existence before him.

It was an old man with long white hair and a short beard, wearing golden and red robes.

"You were struck down by the murderer of Isshin Matoi, for reasons that are currently unknown to me, nor do I know the identity of your killer." the old man said.

"Wait… so THAT bitch killed me? Great, all we found out is that it was a chick… shows how much help I was to Ryuko." Taiki finished with a frown.

The old man sighed before patting him on the shoulder "Don't be like that now, I'm rather sure that if it weren't for you she'd have gotten in a LOT more fights."

"I guess…" Taiki sighed. "So...what now? Are you here to ferry me to the afterlife or something?"

The old man smiled "Quite the opposite actually. I'm here to give you a second chance."

Taiki blinked several times at him, his eyes going wide "Wait, you mean… I can live again?"

The old man nodded "Yes, but not in the immediate sense."

"What does that mean?" Taiki asked in confusion.

The old man smiled mysteriously "Tell me, have you ever heard of the term Luminary?"

"It's a person who inspired or influenced others during their time, and ended up being remembered by many people." Taiki answered easily.

The old man nodded "Correct, amazing and memorable people, both good and bad, it's thanks to them you'll be able to return to life."

"Okay...so how are they supposed to help?" Taiki asked.

In response the old man chuckled, and suddenly thrusted his hand forward, stopping just before he hit Taiki's waist, as a strange device appeared around his waist.

It… it was rather blocky in appearance, looking like it had a somewhat translucent sheet over it with an eye in the middle, a handle on the side of it. "This is…?" Taiki blinked.

"The Ghost Driver," the old man said. "And…"

A sphere flew out of Taiki's chest and soon landed in his opened hand.

The sphere was black on the back half, while the front looked like an eye, and on the top of it was an orange sticker with a G at the top and the word GHOST at the bottom, in the middle was what appeared to be a mask of sorts.

"What… what the heck is this?" Taiki asked in confusion as he looked the object over, honestly it looks like an eyeball.

"That… would be your soul." the old man said with a grin.

"...I'm sorry...what?" Taiki asked flatly.

"Your soul is housed inside that Eyecon for the time being. To come back to life, you must gather the 15 Luminary Eyecons, and only then will you be able to regain the life you lost," the old man explained.

The young man blinked a few times "So… like Dragon Ball."

"Like Dragon Ball yes." the old man said with a slight sigh.

Alright, that sounds like pretty standard fare… what's the catch?" Taiki asked, knowing this was too good to be true.

"You'd be right to think that." the old man nodded with a sigh "You only have 99 days to collect the 15 required Eyecons, should your time run up, you will cease to exist."

"...okay, by cease to exist, you mean I'll HAVE to cross over, right? Not I'll literally fade away from existence and essentially be deader than dead?" he checked.

"I mean deader than dead. Me giving you a second chance like this entails that if you fail, there's no afterlife for you, only non-existence." the old man explained.

"Uh…" Taiki gulped. "On second thought maybe passing over might be a better deal," he squeaked. Sure coming back to life sounded cool, but he wasn't too keen on the whole 'cessation of existence' risk involved….

"Well...that IS your decision...however…" the old man trailed off before an image appeared in the water.

Taiki peered into the water curiously, only for his eyes to widen at what he saw.

Ryuko was there, standing in front of his corpse, fighting against two strange… things. Both of them seemed to have mainly black bodies, and seemed almost identical...save for one detail. Both were wearing a sort of hoodie like outfit. The first was wielding what appeared to be a sword growing out of its arm, while the other wielded a spear. Overall both of them invoked the vibe of warriors...but something was VERY off about them...like their very presence warped the surrounding… "W-what are those things?" he gulped.

"Those, are the Ganma," the old man said. "Right now they're after your soul, and your friend is protecting your body. But there's only so much a human can do against them, especially if they can't even see them clearly…"

"So… if I don't do anything then…" Taiki said, grimacing as he didn't need to finish that to know things would go south for his best friend/love interest.

"She won't be far behind yes." the old man said with a grim nod.

Taiki looked at the image for a few more moments "I'll do it." he said, a determined look on his face.

"That's a good resolve," a new voice said, as a new being emerged from the waters. It seemed to be some kind of hoodie/parka. It was mainly colored red with what looked to be two swords at the end of the sleeves, and what appeared to be a headband of sorts at the top which just under it were two small red eyes.

"Uh… who are you?" Taiki asked in confusion as he looked at the parka.

"I… am Musashi Miyamoto." the parka said, striking a pose with his two blade like appendages, and Taiki swore he saw the form of a samurai with a top knot and wielding two blades be superimposed over it for a second.

"Wait, you mean the famous samurai? The one that invented two sword style?! THAT Musashi?!" Taiki asked in shock.

"The very same!" Musashi exclaimed proudly.

"That… is freaking awesome!" Taiki said after a moment.

Musashi seemed to blink for a moment, before chuckling. "Well, I am pleased to see even now I have those that still admire my story. However, let me ask you once more. Are you willing to fight for the sake of the girl? To protect her with everything you have, even if it costs you your life?"

"No." Taiki said, and if Musashi had legs, he likely would have facefaulted at the unexpected response. "I don't need to to fight for her. But I WILL fight WITH her. She's not a damsel in distress. Ryuko's a certified badass who can look out for herself. Besides, I'm pretty sure me dying would hurt her more than any normal wound ever could."

Musashi looked at him for a moment...before laughing. It wasn't a mocking laughter, it was an impressed laugh from someone who'd had the rug pulled out from under them. "Not the answer I was expecting, but arguably better," he chuckled. "Very well, I will lend you my power. Use it to fight alongside the woman you have chosen to walk alongside!" he said, before he glowed and shrunk down into a sphere which fell into Taiki's hand.

The sphere was yet another eyecon, this one red in color, with the number 01 on the sticker on top, right over a mask that looked like two crossing blades, which had MUSASHI written underneath.

"Your first Luminary Eyecon." the old man said, earning Taiki's attention "You can easily tell when it's one of the 15 you'll need, as a number will be written on the top, if there is no number, it's not one of the 15 main ones." the old man explained further, with Taiki nodding along.

"Right...now...how do I get back?" Taiki asked.

"The same way you came here," the old man chuckled as if it were so obvious, and with a light shove, pushed him back into the water.

* * *

Ryuko let a low growl rise out of her throat as she blocked an attack from the two ethereal beings.

"Why won't you two just… FUCK OFF!" she shouted as she pushed them back.

"The girl has quite a lot of strength," the sword user mused.

"All the more reason to take her as well. We have the advantage afterall," the spear user said.

Ryuko didn't say anything, she knew they were right after all, sure, she had strength, but they had numbers, it was only a matter of time before they managed to beat her.

Suddenly, the battle was interrupted when everyone could see a bright light shining from behind her.

Slowly, Ryuko turned, and what she saw made her eyes go wide.

Taiki was standing, his wound closing up while the blood fell off his body.

"Tai… ki?" she whispered, unsure about what was happening.

He was silent for a few moments, before he opened his eyes, walking to stand next to her "There isn't really the time to explain now… but once we deal with these two, I'll explain everything."

Ryuko looked at him for a few moments, before she nodded, turning back to the two beings "That works for me, I'm confused like fuck right now, but I guess these two take priority."

"You...that's impossible!" the Spear Ganma said.

"The dead do not return to life just like that!" the Sword Ganma agreed.

"Well...you're not wrong," Taiki shrugged. "At any rate, now's a good as any time to give this baby a test run," he said, as the Ghost Driver appeared around his waist, and he pulled out his Eyecon, to which he pressed the button on the side, changing the face to reveal a 'G', before he opened up the Ghost Driver, placed the Eyecon inside, and closed it.

" **EYE!"** The Ghost Driver glowed a bit before out came what appeared to a Parka, not unlike the form Musashi took when he first appeared before Taiki. However, this one was black in color, with an orange edge to it, and a pair of glowing orange eyes within the hood. As it floated in the air above Taiki and Ryuko, the Ghost Driver actually let out a jingle.

" **BATCHIRIMINA! BATCHIRIMINA!"**

Everyone stopped at that, looking down at the belt, which WAS basically screaming for everyone to look at it, but even then…

"What the hell old man?" Taiki muttered with a twitching eyebrow. However, he soon pushed through the strangeness and grabbed the handle, and pulled, the Ghost Driver's 'eye' seemingly closing, before he took a breath, a word that just felt RIGHT to say coming to mind "Henshin!" with that, he pushed the handle back in, the eye opening again and this time showing the same image that was on the top of the Eyecon.

" **KAIGAN: ORE!"** the belt declared as the Parka Ghost flew closer while sparks of light gathered over Taiki's body, forming together into a black armor that has silver pieces around his wrist and ankles, as well as silver knee guards, while his body was covered in orange lines that seemed to be shaped like bones, with an eye in the middle of the chest, while the helmet that covered his head was black in the back and silver on the front.

" **LET'S GO! KAKUGO! GHO-GHO-GHO-GHOST! GO! GO! GO! GO!"** The parka descended on his body, phasing through his arms so it slipped on seamlessly, and when the hood landed, the silver front of the helmet changed into orange, with two black ovals acting like eyes, with a wisp like horn on the helmet's forehead. The orange lines on his armor and parka glowing along with the faceplate of the helmet, as he reached up and pulled the hood down.

"It can't be… he's using an Eyecon!" the Sword Ganma said in shock.

Taiki took a moment to look himself over, as information of how to fight in this form came rushing to him, likely due to the fact he was wearing his own soul like an armor. It was then that a name, one that, once again, just felt RIGHT, came to his mind.

"I am… Kamen Rider Ghost! Now… let me show you the strength of my soul!" Ghost exclaimed as he held a hand out, and a sword flashed into existence, gripping it as it gained form, taking the shape of a black sword with a translucent edge with an orange grip, an eye on the guard.

"T-Taiki?!" Ryuko blinked in utter surprise. Today was getting weirder and weirder.

"Trust me, I'm confused too. Just roll with it and we'll make sense of it later." Ghost said, giving his new sword a test swing.

"Right," Ryuko nodded. "Talking can wait till we kick these two to next week!"

"Don't get cocky, children," the spear Ganma growled before lunging forward. The two of them dodged the attack quickly, only for the Sword Ganma to follow up with a slash aimed at Ghost, who managed to block with his sword, before countering with a kick to the gut. Likewise, Ryuko was holding her own against the Spear Ganma, as while she couldn't exactly see him clearly, she could see enough to avoid the spear.

"Not bad," the Sword Ganma commented. "But you're gonna need a whole lot more to beat us!" he growled, before a strong strike sent Ghost flying in one direction...in a way that would have had him hit Ryuko.

"Stop stop!" Ghost said frantically...and he got his wish. "Huh?" he looked down to see that he was floating in the air. "Okay, this I can work with," he grinned, before flying towards the Spear Ganma, his sword glowing for a moment. "GAN! GUN! SABER!" he called out as he slashed the Ganma out of the air as he had been trying to lunge for Ryuko, drawing what appears to be black blood from the Ganma. "Ryuko look! I can fly!"

Ryuko shouted as she kicked the Sword Ganma away, hard enough he crashed into a tree, before she looked at Taiki, blinked, and grinned a bit "Ok, that's actually pretty cool." she admitted.

The cool factor was slightly diminished when he was knocked out of the air by the Spear Ganma who'd managed to recover enough to counter attack. "Okay...note to self...defeat enemies THEN enjoy newfound flying powers," Ghost groaned as he got up. "Guess I'd better not prolong this," he frowned...right before the eye symbol on his sword, and the 'eye hole' on the Driver started glowing. "This is…?" he blinked, before moving them close together, as a beam of light shot from the eye symbol on the sword and into the Driver.

" **DAI KAIGAN!** " the Driver called out as a mystic looking seal that had a noticeable eyeball design appeared behind Ghost. " **OMEGA BREAK!** "

The lines on Ghost's suit began to glow brightly, as his face lit up, before he charged forward.

"I'll take you on!" the Spear Ganma roared as he met the charge.

"Ghost Saber...BREAK!" Ghost called out as his sword ignited with energy and he brought it down on the Spear Ganma who tried to block with his weapon...only for the attack to cut right through, a flash of light occuring when he was cut and what appeared to be a Parka was ejected from him, his main body gushing black blood before with a pained roar he and the Parka exploded, as a spear head and what appeared to be an Eyecon fell to the ground...before the Eyecon shattered.

"Impossible…!" The Sword Ganma gasped...before he cried out in pain as Ryuko slashed him with her Scissor Blade.

"Where do you think you're looking, asshole?" she glared.

"Two on one now. Not too late to surrender," Ghost added as he was now standing alongside her.

"Do you really think that?" the Sword Ganma smirked, before pulling out what appeared to be several more Eyecons and throwing them into the air...which soon broke apart and formed a few dozen creatures much like himself, only their bodies and hoodies were completely black, and their faces blank as well.

"... fuck… that's not what I expected." Ryuko said after a moment, before the grunts, because what else could they be honestly, pulled out knives out of thin air.

"You two may be strong, but numbers can overwhelm strength," the Sword Ganma chuckled as the Ganma Commandos swarmed them, the two soon fighting back to back as they defended against the small army.

"Don't be so sure! After all, Musashi could defeat a hundred enemies by himself!" Ghost shot back.

"Maybe, but you're no Musashi," the Sword Ganma laughed.

"Maybe not yet," Ghost smirked under his helmet, before pulling out the red Eyecon from before. "Musashi, lend me your power!" he said before activating the Eyecon, which revealed a '01' symbol on the eye, to which he replaced his Ore Eyecon with it.

" **EYE!** " the Ghost Driver called out as Musashi's Parka Ghost appeared from it, and began slashing at the nearby Ganma Commandos, destroying several of them. " **BATCHIRIMINA! BATCHIRIMINA!** "

"Hold on, what the heck?" Ryuko asked as the red spirit gave them a much needed helping hand.

"Long story short, that's the spirit of Musashi himself." Ghost said.

"...you owe me a BIG explanation when this is over..." Ryuko groaned. First her friend got murdered, then some evil spirits wanted to harvest his soul, then he seemed to miraculously come back as some kind of superhero, and now spirits of legendary swordsmen. What was next? A talking sailor uniform that turned into power armor? Yeah, like THAT would happen.

"I'll tell you everything after we get through this," Ghost nodded. "But for now…" he pulled then pushed the trigger, the Eyecon now showing what appeared to be two swords crossed.

" **KAIGAN: MUSASHI!** " The Driver called out as Musashi's Parka Ghost flew over Ghost, while the Ore Parka vanished, and soon slipped itself on Ghost as the sound of a biwa could be heard. " **KETTO! ZUBATTO! CHO KENGO!** "

The red parka covered his torso, the blade like tassels hanging off his back with some armor on his shoulders, a headband around his forehead, while a topknot made out of a sword handle came out from the top of the hood, the helmet now carrying the image of two red katanas crossing over each other over a black background. To finish off the transformation, Ghost grabbed a section of his sword and slid it off, turning it into a second sword, to which he was now dual wielding the two swords and assuming the legendary stance of Musashi's fighting style. "Unmatched under the heavens! Come!"

 **(Play: 'Warera Omou, Yue ni Warera ari instrumental version' OST Kamen Rider Ghost)**

"Get them!" the Sword Ganma growled as the Commandos charged forward.

The two best friends didn't waste time and immediately fought back, with Ghost acting as crowd control, fighting as if he'd used a two handed sword style all his life, feeling the presence of Musashi guiding his movements, showing him how to fight. Not to be outdone, Ryuko slashed any Commando that got close, their weaker bodies no match for her Scissor Blade, while she kicked any of them that had gotten too close but weren't in a position to be hit by her weapon. Though the two were fighting fiercely, they were also careful to avoid getting swarmed, allowing them to keep the battle more or less one on one with each strike.

The Commandos did their best, they really did, but in the end they were no match for the two, who systematically cut them down, each vanishing into dark smoke when they were defeated, their numbers slowly but surely dwindling before the last one fell when Ryuko bisected it with her scissor blade. "Heh, so much for your army," she smirked.

"Not bad," the Sword Ganma commented.

"Big talk from the last one standing cause he wasn't fighting!" Ghost shot back.

The Sword Ganma didn't say anything, instead readying his sword, to which Ghost did the same, before they both charged forward. Sparks flew as the blades clashed, neither giving the other an inch. While it was clear the Sword Ganma had more strength, Ghost made full use of the two blades he was wielding, and landed several strikes, throwing him off balance, before thrusting both swords into his gut, sending him back, while clutching the wounds leaking black blood. "Its over," Ghost said simply before scanning his sword again.

" **DAI KAIGAN!** " the Driver called out as once more the mystic looking seal that had a noticeable eyeball design appeared behind Ghost. " **OMEGA SLASH!** "

Ghost raised the swords up as he ran forward. "Twin...Heaven...SLASH!" he called out as he brought the two swords down, cutting into the Sword Ganma who roared in pain as his Parka was ejected and his main body was gushing black blood before both exploded, followed by his Eyecon which shattered on the ground.

 **(Song End)**

Ghost let out a sigh after a moment, glad that was over " _You did well on your first battle young man, but always keep your guard up, as I'm sure there will be more to come."_ Musashi's voice spoke to him in his mind, making him give a small nod, before he let his swords fade away, opening the driver to take out the Eyecon, and closing it back up " **OYASUMI~"** it said in response, making him blink and look down at it as his armor faded away, the belt disappearing into small flames.

After the strange experience of his belt saying good night to him, he turned back to Ryuko, just as she jumped at him and hugged him, making him stumble back and fall on the ground.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you survived that somehow." she said, her head against his chest as she smiled in relief, just hugging him to remind herself he was still there.

Taiki winced at her words "Actually… I didn't really survive." he said sadly.

She opened her eyes, blinking a few times, about to ask what he meant, before she finally noticed it.

Her ear was right where his heart was… and yet there was no heartbeat.

"Taiki… what the fuck? Why isn't your heart beating?" she asked slowly as she sat up on top of him. Her eyes widened when she realized the next thing too. "You're cold...like ice…"

"Yeah...I'm sorta still dead…" Taiki sighed. This...was going to take a LOT of explaining.

* * *

 **Yeahp.**

 **Sort of pairing right from the start.**

 **What, I'm allowed to write stories were couples already exist... in a way.**

 **Basically, Taiki Kujira (writing the full name here in case you didn't catch it earlier) has been at Ryuko's side since the two were little kids, and Isshin was actually happy about that, desite the fact he wasn't the World's Best Dad, he also had some measure of respect for Taiki.**

 **As for Taiki's abilities, yes, he can see Life Fibers.**

 **The reason?**

 **... No actual answer, some people are just born different, but yeah, to show that he's different, his eyes are rainbow colored.**

 **And yes, the fucking bitch killed him.**

 **Why? That one will have a proper answer later in the story, don't worry.**

 **We're not dumb, we'll make sure everything is answered eventually.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and you'll like the next one as well!**


	2. Chapter 1

**And already the next one!**

 **I'm honestly really in the mood for this story.**

 **Also, to the guest who said I put in too much details, hey, that was me letting the inner pervert out a bit, besides, it helped show that THIS Ryuko is slightly different in her emotions from canon... and is also a bit of a closet perv.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter, because there's a nice surprise in it.**

* * *

 **(Opening Song: Warera Omou, Yue Ni Warera Ari)**

The scene starts with a burst of orange flames as the title appears in the sky, before fading away into golden light.

 _Namida ga afureru no wa kimi ga soba de hohoemu kara_

From the light, Taiki is seen floating in the air, as feathers fall around him, showing images of Ryuko, followed by Sennin, and Yurusen, before the focus is on Taiki who has a serene expression on his face, before the light suddenly vanishes.

 _Dakishime takunaru no wa kimi ga soba ni iru kara_

Taiki blinks in surprise as he's suddenly seemingly free falling, before the fall slows and he begins to fly through the air, and down to a street where Ryuko is riding on a scooter, smiling when she sees him before they high five and he flies back up to the sky, as several Eyecons appear and manifest into the Parka Ghosts of Musashi, Edison, Robin Hood, and Newton.

 _Naze umarete kitakanante_

Taiki has a big grin as he floats in the air, the Parka Ghosts flying with him, before his own joins the crowd, and flies before the camera.

 _Kangaete mo wakaranainda_

The scene changes to show Ghost in his transient form as he spins around in a sort of dance, as the various images of the Luminaries float around him, as he puts on his own Parka, while at the same time the image of him in Musashi Damashi and Musashi's image is seen on the side.

 _Dakara ikiru tamashii moyashi ikinuite_

The scene changes to show Ghost floating over several Ganma Commandos, slashing at them as they got close and using his abilities to evade them, followed by a shot of Musashi Damashii cutting apart a group of Ganma, followed by Edison firing a strong last of electricity, Robin Hood charging up an arrow blast, and Newton manipulating gravity.

 _Mitsukedasu itsuka_

The scene changes once more to show a massive number of eyecons, before they all activate, with 15 in particular glowing brighter than the others.

 _Onaji jidai ni ima de aeta nakama tachi yo_

The scene changes to show Sennin and Yurusen standing by the waterfall in limbo, Sennin smiling warmly before he gives the screen a cheeky wink. The scene then changes to show Ryuko with the Scissor Blade strapped to her back as she gives the screen a confident smirk and takes a bite out of a lemon.

 _Warera omou yueni warera ari_

The scene changes to show Ryuko and Taiki against a bunch of thugs, with Ryuko knocking out several of them, with Taiki doing the same before he tricks the last few to knock themselves out by vanishing when they try to dogpile him at the same time, causing them to hit each other, with Taiki re-appearing next to Ryuko as both share an amused laugh at his little trick.

 _Atarashi rekishi ni kogidase nakamatachi yo_

The scene shifts to show a dark woods of sorts as a figure wearing another Ghost Driver is seen covered in shadows, while behind him is the silhouette of what appears to be a young woman with what appears to be a sword before her. The scene changes again to show a figure dressed in a princely outfit standing on a building under a red sky.

 _Warera omou yueni warera ari_

The scene changes to show Ghost riding on the Machine Ghostriker, as the Parka Ghosts fly alongside him.

 _Jinsei wa daremo minna ichido kiri sa...Omoi no mama ni_

The Machine Ghostriker is seen fusing with Captain Ghost to form Iguana Ghostriker, which Ghost rides into battle on using its high mobility, before the scene changes to show Taiki with the 15 Luminary Eyecons floating around him, as the seal of the Great Eye appears and the scene is covered in light.

* * *

"What the fuck Taiki?!" Ryuko shouted at her best friend as they were walking on the road again.

"I'm sorry alright, but I would have felt like an ass if I didn't give you a hand, you were in a rough spot!" he defended himself, having just explained everything to her.

"Jesus christ." Ryuko groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose "So we have 99 days to find 15 of those Eyecon things, SPECIFIC ones at that, meaning we might find duds, or else you won't even go to the afterlife? Fucking perfect."

"If it makes you feel any better, I also saw the big problem with that detail. But yeah...it was either I take the deal or the Ganma would have killed you and probably taken your soul…" Taiki sighed.

"Well…" Ryuko sighed, before smirking at him "Thanks for sticking with my dumbass then."

"No problem, though if you ask me, that ass is more sexy than dumb." he shot back with a wink and a grin, earning him a shove from Ryuko.

"Moron." she said with a laugh, taking it in stride, used to his occasional flirting by now.

He chuckled, settling into silence for a moment, before remembering something "So… remember what I was about to say before some motherfucking bitch stabbed me? I was gonna mention Honno-"

"I'd recommend holding off on that first. Especially since these could help you find the Eyecons," a familiar voice said, as a tome and what appeared to be some miscellaneous items on top of it were all but shoved in front of Taiki.

"Really? Cool. Thanks old man," Taiki said without thinking as he took the objects...right before he realized what he'd just said. "Old man?!" he gasped, jumping back and pointing at the very same old man who gave him the Ghost Driver. "What the heck are you doing here?! Weren't you in limbo or whatever that place was?!"

The old man smiled, and Ryuko blinked as for a moment he was ethereal like the Ganma (Taiki had mentioned what those weird ghostly things were from earlier) and then he was normal looking, allowing her to see him clearly "So, you're the old man that gave Taiki that deal then?"

"Correct young lady, though my name isn't Old Man, the two of you can call me Sennin." the now revealed Sennin told them.

"...well, I guess you do have the 'sage' look down pat," Taiki admitted. "Okay then Sennin...so as you explained, I got 99 days to find 14 more SPECIFIC Eyecons or I'm deader than dead. How are these supposed to help me?" he asked.

"The book I've given you holds a list of many Luminaries, and the first 15 Luminaries in that book are the ones you need to find," Sennin started. "Furthermore, these three will help you search for the Eyecons AND assist you in battle in the future," he said, before the 3 objects, which were an old rotary phone, a miniature grandfather clock, and an electric lantern suddenly unfolded to reveal small robots of a Condor, a Bat, and a Spider respectively.

"And don't forget about me!" came a new voice, as something came up from behind Sennin.

It was like the stereotypical depiction of a spirit, looking like a torso with a wispy lower body, and had a pair of stubby arms, a short white cape on its shoulders, and it's head was round and white, with a singular eye in the middle of the face and a mouth underneath it, with a small orange horn above its eye.

"And… who are you?" Taiki asked after he and Ryuko blinked a few times, the three gadget animals having taken the opportunity to settle on his shoulders, or his arm in the spider's case.

"I, am the Great Yurusen!" the small spirit announced proudly as they presented themselves.

"Forgive her, she has a bit of a huge ego." Sennin waved it off, while answering their silent question of Yurusen's gender at least.

"Hey! I'll have you know my ego is perfectly sized!" Yurusen snapped at him.

"Nope, it's definitely bigger than her," Ryuko said to Taiki flatly, the boy trying hard not to laugh at the joke/snark.

"So, mind if I ask how she's going to help us?" Taiki asked once he got himself under control again.

"Glad you asked," Yurusen said, suddenly in his face. "Just as you can call out Parkas by fulfilling certain conditions, the Ganma can too. But every now and then they mess up and some escape. I can sense when one of those is around, and as long as its close enough, I can tell you where it is."

"That… does sound helpful yeah. Though, that brings up an important question, HOW do I call out Parkas?" Taiki asked.

"Eh… hold on, just standing while explaining isn't too good for my old bones." Sennin said as he looked around, before spotting a bench a few feet ahead and walking to it, the others following him and sitting on it along with him "Right, the way that YOU should be calling on Parkas requires 3 conditions. First, you need an object connected to the spirit. It doesn't literally need to be something they owned, but as long as they'd have a high affinity to it, it's a possible candidate. Second, someone with strong feelings or affinity towards said spirit to act as a sort of medium. And third, once the connection has been established, you need to do THIS seal," he said, before holding his right hand out in a half tiger seal, then drawing a circle around it, manifesting an Eye Shaped Seal that Taiki recognized as the symbol on his weapon when he was Ghost. "Once all three conditions are met, you'll be able to manifest the Parka and hopefully gain its help."

"What do you mean 'hopefully'?" Ryuko frowned.

"Well...Parkas or not, they WERE originally people. Different spirits have different likes and dislikes. Your friend had a similar wavelength if you will to Musashi, so it wasn't hard for him to get Musashi to help. That's also why he could use Musashi's powers so quickly. Now, if he were to be dealing with a Parka belonging to someone known for being... difficult... like say… Attila the Hun... well…"

"Right, they'd probably just ignore me." Taiki said with a frown.

"Or worse, try and possess you… or your friend since she's alive." Yurusen added.

"I'll kill them twice over if they try that." Taiki muttered in a dark tone.

"Moving on." Ryuko said, smiling in amusement despite the fact that Taiki was being dark, it was a nice sentiment "How do the Ganma summon up a Parka anyway?"

Sennin's expression darkened at that. "They need the first two steps yes, but for step number three...they feed the person's affinity to the point of obsession...then madness. In this sense, they have a step 4. Once the victim is far gone enough, they offer them up as a 'sacrifice' to pull the Parkas into this world…" Sennin said darkly. "Ganma grow stronger by absorbing things to become THEIR Parkas, and Luminary souls are among the strongest of Parkas. A Ganma that absorbs a Luminary's Parka is bound to have incredible power. Furthermore, they can also increase their numbers by taking the souls of the recently deceased and bring them back to their world, where the souls will be forcefully bound to a Ganma Eyecon, creating a new Ganma."

"Jesus fuck that's dark." Ryuko muttered, slightly regretting asking the question.

"Alright, so, let's see if there's anything else…" Taiki muttered, wondering if he had any other questions, before glancing at the gadget animals, and looking back at Sennin "What can they do specifically?"

"Well, first is Condor Denwor," Sennin started as the condor flew towards him. "This little guy can turn into a phone and work as one, and if anyone HAS called him, he can track anyone who did so anywhere. He's also good for recon," he said, stroking his beard.

"Then you have Bat Clock, he works like a normal alarm clock, but when in his bat form he has an ultrasonic screech, and as an extra, he can turn into a small gun." Yurusen continued, the mechanical bat flying a few laps around her.

"And finally, Kumo Lantern, while he works the same as a normal lantern and has all the abilities of a spider, he can also cast a light upon spirits and Ganma to reveal them to the naked eye." Sennin finished as the spider crawled up Taiki's arm and went to his shoulder.

"Huh...those are all really useful abilities," Taiki noted. "Though…"

"Say no more," Sennin said before pulling out a scrap of paper and handing it to Taiki. "Condor Denwor's number," he said simply, before Taiki handed it to Ryuko.

"Well...that's one thing. Another was any clues on where to start looking for Luminary spirits?" Taiki asked.

"Well...the place you were headed for is a pretty big hot spot, but I don't think you should go there just yet. The hotter the spot, the stronger the Ganma that are likely attracted there," Sennin said. "May I see your map?"

"Uh...sure?" Taiki blinked, before showing him their map. Sennin took a look at it, before pulling out a marker of all things from his robes and began marking several spots on the map.

"You have everything in those robes don't you?" Ryuko asked dryly as he circled some spots on their map, all of which were on the road to their final destination.

"Everything except food, ghosts don't need to eat after all." Sennin said with a cheeky smile.

"Well… that sucks to hear." Taiki said with a frown, he kind of liked eating.

"Make sure you're close to a buffet when you revive, you'll be hungry enough to eat an elephant whole." Sennin told him, and Taiki both appreciated it and hated it at the same time.

"So...while we're on topic...how bad on the zombie scale of things am I by being basically 'undead'?" Taiki sighed. Might as well get the worst of it over with.

"Ah...well...okay, there's no nice way to say this," Sennin sighed. "The only things you keep right now are your memories, your emotions, and your mind. Everything else...you're basically a zombie…"

Taiki's face fell at the news "Oh…" he said, almost hollowly.

"Shit." Ryuko muttered "Come here." she said, pulling her best friend into a hug to try and make him feel a bit better.

"...I feel comforted emotionally...but I don't feel anything physically…" he mumbled. "It's official...these are going to be the longest 99 days of my life…"

"It won't be 99. We'll get all those Eyecons before we even hit 80 days, I'm positive." Ryuko told him.

"Thanks, Ryuko," he smiled softly. Maybe he couldn't physically feel her anymore, but her words and encouragement still warmed his...well...would heart work in this situation seeing as his wasn't beating anymore…

"Hey lovebirds, if you're looking to fulfill that promise, I'd suggest you get a move on real soon!" Yurusen suddenly said.

"Yeah yeah, we know." Ryuko said with a roll of her eyes, honestly not phased by being called a lovebird. "So where's the closest spot?"

"It's...not too far from here. Small town, nothing notable," Taiki said looking at the map. "Heck, we could reach there in a few hours I'd say."

"Why settle for a few hours when you can get there in one or less," Yurusen chuckled, before making a 'come on' gesture at something. "Machine Ghostriker!" at her call, the air rippled before the sound of a motorbike was heard, as one appeared in the distance...without a rider.

It looked like a heavily modified Honda CRF250L, with the frame having the appearance of a black skeletal horse with a horn on its head, it even had a pair of glowing green eyes.

"Okay...wha?" Taiki blinked as he stepped closer...then recoiled when the bike basically turned to face him and let out a snort.

"What's the matter? Never seen a bike possessed by the spirit of a horse?" Sennin chuckled.

"As a matter of fact...no," Taiki deadpanned. "...it's safe, right?"

"He's safe," Yurusen chuckled. "As long as you treat him right, he won't knock you off into heavy traffic~"

"Right… so treat him like a normal horse then." Taiki said after a moment, before stroking what he assumed was its neck, receiving a much calmer snort as the bike actually leaned into it a little.

"So, he's pretty fast then?" Ryuko asked as she looked the horse possesed bike over… that's not a sentence she assumed would ever pass her mind, but it just did.

"The fastest vehicle with wheels you can find." Sennin said with a grin.

"Well...that works," Taiki said, before he slowly got on, the bike not resisting. "So...your name is Machine Ghostriker, huh?" he mused, idly petting the bike on the head, earning a happy whine. "That's...kind of a mouth full...mind if I just call you 'Striker'?" the whiny he got seemed like it didn't mind, so he took that as a yes. "Striker it is."

"Before you go." Sennin said, earning their attention "I should mention that while the first 15 Luminaries are your main objective, you should also grab hold of any others you find, just to keep them out of the hands of the Ganma."

"Noted." Taiki said with a nod.

"Alright then, let's see how fast you can go," Ryuko said as she got on behind Taiki, right as he started the bike. "Ride like the wind, Striker," Ryuko said half jokingly. She'd soon come to regret that…

* * *

"Taiki…?" Ryuko started.

"Yeah?" Taiki asked.

"Next time I ask an animal possessed machine to go as fast as they can, punch me," she said as both of them looked like they'd been through a wind tunnel, as when Striker was asked to 'ride like the wind', he took it quite literally.

"Noted." he said dryly, at the very least, they had reached the small town that Sennin had marked for them in under half an hour, the two flying gadget animals following them from the air while the spider had just went into Taiki's bag.

"So anyway, we'd better start looking for some clues about the Ganma, or what item we need to-" Ryuko started, but…

"No need to look!" Yurusen suddenly popped up, scaring them both a little.

"Where the fuck did YOU come from?!" Ryuko gasped as they were positive the little imp was still with Sennin when they last saw her.

"You won't be able to get away from me THAT easily," Yurusen laughed. "Anyway, you don't need to go search for objects, cause the Parka is already manifested. Odds are, if we do find Ganma, they'll be too busy looking for the Parka," she explained.

Taiki nodded at her words, before frowning after a moment. "That means someone's dead."

"Sad to say, but yeah, though if it makes you feel better, from the way the sensation feels, the Parka has been here for a while, because its energy is all over the town." Yurusen said with a shrug.

"Alright, guess we should look through the book to see what Luminaries we need to find, maybe we'll get a clue as to who's here." Ryuko suggested as the two of them got off of Striker.

"Right." Taiki nodded as he pulled the book he got earlier out of his bag, opening it to search for it.

"By the way, in case you ever get separated from Striker, you can call for him yourself." Yurusen told them helpfully.

"Really?" Ryuko said with a blink.

"Huh, helpful then." Taiki said with a smile as he patted Striker "Thanks for getting us here Striker, you can go take a break for now and we'll call you if we need you." he said, the possessed bike neighing lightly, before performing a turn and zooming outside of the city, soon just fading away like a, well, a ghost.

"Well… alright then." Taiki said after a moment of awkward silence, before looking in the book while Condor and Bat decided to go into his bag for now "Let's see… we already have Musashi. The other 14 Eyecons we need are Thomas Edison, Robin Hood, Isaac Newton, Billy the Kid, Ludwig van Beethoven, Musashibo Benkei, Ishikawa Goemon, Sakamoto Ryoma, Queen Himiko, Tutankhamun, Nobunaga Oda, Harry Houdini, The Grimm Brothers, and Sanzo of the Journey to the West...and apparently the Grimm Brothers are listed as one single Luminary for some reason…" Taiki listed off.

"Well… I think at least half of them will listen to you pretty easily." she said with a shrug, she was decent in history, and she knew that some of them, like perhaps Nobunaga, might not see eye to eye with Taiki "So, besides the main ones we need, who else is there?"

"Let's see… Ikkyu, Pythagoras, Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles Darwin, Kondo Isami, Date Masamune, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Saint Nicholas, King Kamehameha the first, Galileo Galilei, William Shakespeare, Florence Nightingale, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Christopher Columbus…" Taiki listed off, slowly turning to muttering as he turned and turned the pages, the color draining from his face, before he looked back up at Ryuko "There's… hundreds of them." he said weakly.

Ryuko's jaw dropped when she heard that. Sure she knew there was risk of finding duds, but this… "If this turns out to be a sick game of find the needle in a haystack, I'm ramming the scissor blade up that old bastard's ass," she growled.

"Yeah… sorry about that, we honestly don't have any control over who becomes a Luminary, I mean, you two are eligible to become some if you're remembered by enough people after your death and you make a big enough impact." Yurusen admitted sheepishly.

Taiki groaned as he put his face into his palm, trying hard to NOT think of the growing likelihood of him not even getting an afterlife. "Okay, can you at least give us a general direction of where to look?"

"Hm...it's…" Yurusen started as she spun around a bit, before stopping and pointing. "That a way."

The two turned and saw what appeared to be small set of hills at the edge of town. "Huh...that looks like a pretty pleasant setting," Taiki mused, noting the verdant sections of the hill, and what looked to be a building at the top of the hill which wasn't TOO high that walking up there would be an issue, but also not too low that it wouldn't count as a hill.

"Yeah...looks almost good for stargazing, don't ya think?" Yurusen mused, with a hint of a smirk in her voice.

Taiki was silent for a bit...before sighing.

"Something wrong?" Ryuko asked.

"No, just that I figured out who's the likely Luminary, and its not one of the 14 we need to find," he sighed. "Galileo Galilei is the likely Luminary since he was most known for his championing and later proving of the heliocentric system despite a LOT of opposition at the time due to the belief of geocentrism," Taiki explained.

"...right, he's the guy who proved the Earth goes around the sun and not the other way around," Ryuko nodded with a light chuckle despite the situation. This was fairly common where Taiki being more a bookworm than she was, would spout long trivia which she'd then simplify if not for the sake of 'ease of digestion'. "Well...it sucks its not one of the ones we want, but better than leaving him to the Ganma."

"Right, let's go then. We got a decent amount of ground to cover...and I'd rather not call Striker again so soon," Taiki sighed.

The walk up the hill didn't take long, as the hills were in such a way that they could easily be used for a family outing and back within a day. When they reached the building, they found a three story house, with the third floor being the smallest of the floors if the layout was any indication. They also noticed something sticking out of the top. "Is that...a telescope?" Ryuko squinted a bit as it WAS starting to get late in the day.

"Looks like it...though…" Taiki frowned. "Careful...something's not right with that thing…" he said noticing what appeared to be a dark aura of some kind around the telescope.

"Well...we're in the right place then...sort of…" Yurusen frowned. "If you're seeing a dark aura, that means that was the object used to bring the Parka to this world, and was what was used in sacrifice…"

"So, the owner of the house is probably dead then." Ryuko said with a light frown.

"Looks like it, and if the Ganma did it, then they aren't resting in peace, that's for sure." Taiki added with a frown.

"Nope, they aren't, either they consumed the person's soul to get stronger, or sent it to their world to subjugate them and turn them into another Ganma." Yurusen said matter of factly.

"...isn't there anything we can do to help them?" Taiki frowned.

"Not at this point. Sorry kid," Yurusen said.

"So I guess the only thing we can do now is get the Parka and beat up whatever Ganma was responsible for this," Ryuko said, glaring at the building.

"Well, let's head in for now, maybe we'll find some sort of clue about Galileo's location." Taiki said as they tried the front door, and it was surprisingly unlocked.

"Well...I guess this hasn't been too long…" Ryuko mused as the inside was relatively neat. Even the dust wasn't too thick, implying that whatever happened here...happened not too long ago.

"And I can see why the Ganma used whoever lived here as the sacrifice," Taiki sighed, as the place was full of star charts, spaceship models, and even a model of the hubble telescope. In short, whoever lived here was a space nut. "Well...time to get searching…"

"But first!" Yurusen spoke up, as the Kumo Lantern hopped out of Taiki's bag and sprayed the room with particles of light. "This should make sure the missy over there can see the Ganma if its around."

"Good call, I could barely see them last time, so seeing it clearly will help." Ryuko nodded in thanks as Kumo Lantern crawled back into Taiki's bag.

"Let's start by checking the telescope they used to summon Galileo." Taiki said as they went up the stairs, all the way to the third floor.

What they found was a pretty impressive telescope. Not exactly observatory standards, but still pretty good nonetheless for personal use. Too bad he could literally see the sinister aura coming off from it. It was dark, but in a very sad way really.

"Whoever had this must have been a real fan of stargazing," Taiki mused.

"They sure were," came an amused laugh, to which Taiki quickly put a hand on Ryuko in a way to tell her to not do anything just yet. "It was so ridiculously easy to get them so focused on trying to find a 'new star system' that getting them to go crazy over it was easy. Heck, watching them waste away and the look on their face when I triggered the sacrifice...priceless!" the Ganma laughed...right before he noticed something. "...are those two looking at me?" he blinked...right before two fists plowed into his face.

Now that they were done tricking the Ganma, they bothered to get a good look at him, seeing he had the black body and blue eyes that the ones from earlier had, as well as the strange looking belt around his waist, but then they noticed the parka on his body, with long sleeves, which held a star field design along with lines connecting some of the stars on it to form different constellations, with the head shaped somewhat like a rocket… and they also noticed how a magnifying glass covered one of his eyes.

"Stargazer Ganma." Yurusen said in the background, and the two figured she was giving the Ganma a name, which they found fit for it.

Stargazer groaned as he got back up "How the heck can you two see me? And punch me too?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ryuko glared.

"We know why you're here, Ganma! You're gonna pay for using a person's hopes and dreams like that!" Taiki glared, summoning the Ghost Driver, and activating the Ore Eyecon and inserting it before closing the driver.

" **EYE! BATCHIRIMINA! BATCHIRIMINA! KAIGAN: ORE! LET'S GO! KAKUGOU! GHO-GHO-GHO-GHOST! GO! GO! GO! GO!"** Before the long jingle had even finished, Taiki was rushing at the Ganma with the Gangun Saber in hand, with Ryuko holding up her scissor blade and tearing off the rest of the wrappings that had been damaged against the ones from earlier, revealing the gleaming red blade beneath.

Ryuko jumped up and used Ghost's shoulder as a spring board, allowing her to land a strong overhead strike with her weapon, causing the Ganma to stumble back. "Heh, he's not so tough," she smirked.

"Not so tough?! Well try this!" The Ganma growled before around them a star field came into being. "Get them Leo!" he ordered as the stars formed the constellation 'leo', and a lion materialized around it, as it landed on the ground and roared.

"Oh come the fuck on!" Ghost groaned as Leo lunged for him, and he had to shove his blade between its jaws while he started kicking it several times.

"Hey! Let him go you overgrown furball!" Ryuko shouted as she lashed out with her scissor blade, beheading the lion, causing it to break apart...before…

"Come, Perseus!" the Ganma ordered, as a new constellation began to form.

Ghost stopped short, remembering what that particular constellation was… "Time for a tactical retreat. Ryuko, let's go!" he said, before grabbing her and much to her protest, slinging her over his shoulder, though he made sure her head was facing the same way he was, before making an about face and running.

Stargazer stopped short, and so too did the still forming constellation "Wait… what?" he said in confusion.

Likewise…

"What the hell Taiki?! We had him!" Ryuko was struggling in Ghost's grasp.

Ghost sighed before putting her down, and undoing his transformation. Currently they were a good distance away from the observatory, so they should be safe. "If we had stayed any longer, we'd have been stoned. Literally."

"Huh?" Ryuko blinked.

"That last one he was summoning was Perseus. And his constellation includes his most famous achievement," Taiki explained.

Ryuko thought about it for a moment, recalling the bits of greek mythology she knew of...and soon paled. "Ah...right...the snake lady's head…"

"Yes, the very same one that turns anyone who looks at it to stone," Taiki nodded.

"Right… good call on the tactical retreat then. I don't want to be an art exhibit." Ryuko said with a slight shudder as she thought of being turned into a statue that would just stand in a museum.

"For now, let's focus on finding Galileo, it's obvious he wasn't in the house, but he probably goes there often." Taiki said with a sigh.

Ryuko nodded "Hey Yurusen, any other spots around town that are likely?" Ryuko asked into the air, knowing that Yurusen wasn't far.

The tiny spirit popped in out of nowhere "Well, there's an art school in town that it looks like he goes to from time to time, maybe he likes to look at art in his free time. Besides that, his energy is mostly concentrated in a park and the roof of the supermarket, and I do specifically mean the roof." she said, before disappearing again.

"Well...the art school might be easier to check. We'd have a pretty clear place to look," Taiki suggested.

"Right, if he's not there, we can check the supermarket roof. Just hope he's not in the park though, cause that's quite a lot of ground to cover…" Ryuko nodded before sighing at the end.

"Yeah...that'd be a problem...oh well, not time like the present I guess…" he sighed again. With that they went searching through town, going into the art school (which was thankfully open to public), then the supermarket, before eventually….

"Up yours, Murphy," Ryuko snarled as they were now in the park.

"Everyone feels our pain, Ryuko. Everyone does…" Taiki sighed...before a thought crossed his mind and he opened his book. "Drat…" Turns out Murphy, despite being remembered, WASN'T on the list.

"Well...let's get going. Hopefully we can get this done before night," Ryuko sighed. Thank god the town was small or they might have had some problems.

Even though she said that, the sun WAS starting to set, so the stars were becoming visible outside in the sky.

"Well...at least it looks like its gonna be a nice night," Taiki mused.

"Oh yes, this place is very nice to look at the stars indeed," came a new voice.

The two blinked at the voice, turning their heads towards its source to see… a maroon colored parka with gold accents on its body, including shoulder pads that looked like they were made from the frame of a globe, black armor on the chest that had the image of a line being drawn between some dots, no doubt imitating constellations, and on it's hood was a small hat with large rim, as maroon colored eyes shined in its hood.

Taiki and Ryuko looked back at each other, before looking at the Parka that was just floating next to them "Um… Galileo Galilei, I presume?"

"Correct!" the Parka exclaimed, striking a pose as it put a sleeve behind it's back and another pointed upwards, and the two for a second saw his original living self appear in his place, before he blinked in confusion and turned to them "Wait, you two young ones can see me?"

"Yeah we can," Taiki nodded.

"Though it's more blurry for me still," Ryuko sighed.

"This should help," Yurusen spoke up, as the Kumo Lantern showered Galileo with its particles, making him clearer for Ryuko to see.

"Long story short, we've kinda been looking for you," Taiki said.

"Me? What business would you have with me?" Galileo 'frowned' if the eyes were any indication.

"Well… getting you away from the Ganma in the observatory for starters…" Taiki sighed.

"You mean the fool who wears a robe with stars on it?" Galileo asked, and the two had to resist the urge to laugh.

"Yeah, that guy, it's weird, but he's kind of trying to absorb you to become stronger basically." Ryuko explained, trying to sum it up.

"My, that DOES sound ghastly. I am glad I was able to get away when I did then," Galileo mused. "Though...I must ask how you intend to do so."

"Well...we could take you away, though I was also hoping if you'd lend me your power too," Taiki said awkwardly. "I...kinda have a power where I can use the abilities of any Luminary spirits I meet to be able to fight...with their permission of course," he quickly added at the end.

"Trust me." another voice added in, as Musashi's Parka appeared from Taiki's jacket pocket where he had put the Eyecon "Young Taiki, while he still has much to learn, is WILLING to do so. His power is his growing potential, one that I feel we can rely on."

Galileo seemed to consider for a moment...before eventually nodding. "Very well, I do not have any objections. I'd quite like to get away from that…THING...really," Galileo nodded.

"Ah...about that…" Ryuko mused. "We're kinda planning to get rid of it before we leave town. Can't have it possibly killing anyone else to summon another Parka Ghost. Sides, that bastard needs to get what's coming to him."

Galileo nodded "Completely understandable, you'll have my full support in this endeavor."

Taiki nodded, passing a hand over his waist to make the Ghost Driver appear in a burst of flame while Musashi returned into his eyecon "Just fly into this, it'll channel your power in a way I can use it from what I understand."

Galileo regarded the device with curiosity, before eventually flying into it, and out from the 'eye' came a new Eyecon. It looked like the other two before it, with its body being a maroon color, while on the top was a sticker that showed the image of a telescope pointing upwards, with a crescent moon hanging behind it in the sky, underneath it was the name GALILEO, and above the image were the letters GG, no doubt for Galileo Galilei.

"And there's the Galileo Eyecon," Yurusen said. "Not one of the 15, but it's still good to have more options in your repertoire."

"Right. Now, let's take care of that Ganma so we can move on quickly," Taiki said.

* * *

"You sure this is gonna work?" Taiki asked.

"That guy literally monologued before he realized we were looking at him, and didn't register it until we punched him. Yeah, I think he's that dumb as a brick," Ryuko snorted in amusement, as a 'parka' went flying out of the bushes, before she cupped her hands around her mouth and said loudly, "Hey, doesn't that flying parka make you think of Galileo Galilei?"

There were exactly 2 seconds before the Ganma came out a window, going straight for the 'Parka'...only to hit it and pull it off of what turned out to be Yurusen who let out an amused laugh when she saw the Ganma fall to the ground in a tangle of plastic.

"...wow...that actually worked…" Taiki blinked. He honestly didn't think it would work THAT well… Whatever the case, he summoned the Driver, and pulled out Musashi's Eyecon. Sure he had a feeling Galileo would work better, but he figured it wouldn't be nice to use him against the very person they were trying to get him away from unless they had to. "Musashi, lend me your power," he said, before activating the Eyecon and loading it into the Driver.

" **EYE! BATCHIRIMINA! BATCHIRIMINA!** " The chant started as Musashi's Parka Ghost appeared, and Taiki grabbed the lever. "Henshin!" he called out before pulling and pushing the lever.

" **KAIGAN: MUSASHI! KETTO! ZUBATTO! CHO KENGO!"** With that, the parka settled onto his shoulders as his armor appeared, and with just a flick of his wrists, the Gangun Saber appeared, already in twin blade mode as he held one in each hand.

"Let's finish this quickly," Ghost said, before running forward. The Ganma had JUST enough time to get the fake Parka off him before he was slashed at the chest by the blades, followed by several more.

"Tch! So this was your trick, huh? Well two can play that game! Charge him, Taurus!" the Ganma called out, as the constellations formed a bull and came charging at him...only for him to jump over it and stab it in the head, the bull soon fading away.

"Musashi fought against an army and won. Did you REALLY think a bull was gonna work?" Ghost deadpanned.

"...maybe?" the Ganma said, earning a groan from Ghost, right before Ryuko got annoyed and stabbed him from behind.

"We ran away from THIS sack of hammers?" she groaned. This was honestly becoming embarrassing.

"Sack of hammers, eh? In that case, burn them, Draco!" the Ganma growled as a new constellation formed into…

"Oh crap," Ghost managed to say before he pulled Ryuko out of the torrent of fire.

"Okay, so he's a strong idiot," she admitted, before…

"Hot! Hot! Hot hot hot!" the Ganma shouted as Draco had fired its flames when he was still nearby.

"...but he's still an idiot," Ghost and Ryuko deadpanned together.

"Still...it'd be a problem if we kept fighting as is…" Ghost frowned before pulling out the Galileo Eyecon. "Mister Galileo, please lend me your power," Ghost said, before activating the Eyecon, showing the letters GG in the iris, before he removed Musashi's Eyecon, causing his Parka to burst away, before he inserted the Galileo Eyecon and closed the Driver back up, with Galileo's Parka flying out of it.

" **EYE! BATCHIRIMINA! BATCHIRIMINA! KAIGAN: GALILEO! TENTAI SHIRITAI! HOSHI-IPPAI!"** The Driver sang out as stars could be heard twinkling in the background before Galileo's Parka settled onto Ghost's body, bringing up the visor that featured the telescope and crescent moon in a maroon color.

Stepping into the fight once more, the view around them turned into a star field as Ghost approached. Raising his hand, several meteor rose up from around him, before Draco was pelted with a meteor shower, the dragon soon vanishing. Turning his sights on the Ganma, he summoned forth a Telescope...that had a notable gun aspect to it too. Pulling the trigger, lasers started firing from it as he aimed through the scope, forcing the Ganma off balance again, and once he got close, he began using it as a bludgeoning tool.

"Ow! Mercy! Ow! I'm sorry! Ow!" the Ganma cried out in pain as he was soon knocked aside.

"Pull the lever again to activate an Omega Drive!" Yurusen suggested.

Ghost nodded, the telescope fading away before he pulled on the lever and pushed it back in. " **DAI KAIGAN! GALILEO! OMEGA DRIVE!"** The belt shouted out as Ghost raised a hand towards the sky, which started to become bright as if it was the middle of day… due to a miniature sun appearing out of nowhere.

"Astronomic!" Ghost started as he ran at the Ganma, delivering a few punches and spin kicks, before ending with a backflipping kick to the chin that put the Ganma into the air "Solar!" With that, Ghost ran a few feet and jumped up, his foot pointing skywards, essentially going into a flying kick… that was ascending, and collided with the Ganma soon enough, sending him flying upwards "Judgement!" the Ganma screamed as he sent hurtling into the sun, Ghost snapping his fingers and shooting some small meteors upwards for good measure as they all elicited a loud "Ow!" from the Ganma, before he was incinerated in the star, which soon shrunk back down and faded away, returning the area to night.

Once the fight was over, Ghost undid his transformation. "Guess that's that," Taiki sighed, as he put the Galileo Eyecon back into his pocket.

"So, can you feel anything else in town?" Ryuko asked as she glanced at Yurusen, the little spirit closing her eye in concentration, before opening it again and shaking her head.

"Nothing, guess the hot spot was just Galileo running all over the place with the Ganma on his tail."

"Well...all's well ends well I guess…" Taiki sighed. "Shame we couldn't stop them from taking that guy's life…"

"That's the breaks kid. It's great you wanna try to save as many as you can, but there's only one of you two, and LOTS of Ganma. There's no way you can get to all of them in time…" Yurusen advised.

"Hate to admit it, but the eyeball is right," Ryuko sighed, clenching her fist, remembering the sight of her father stabbed through, then Taiki himself...both by the bitch who was using the item her father made to commit murder. With how sudden Taiki was killed, she had a feeling those two weren't that bitch's only victims. How many had she probably killed by now and why? Those were questions she really wanted answers for. "At any rate...its getting late…"

"Yeah, we should find a place to stay," Taiki nodded.

"Why not stay in the observatory?" Yurusen suggested. "It'll take a while to get back, and it looks to me like it might rain soon...and the frogs are croaking too, so yeah…"

"...I guess you have a point...and I doubt the original owner would mind if we borrowed his house for a night…" Taiki admitted, before they set out for the observatory and quickly made themselves comfortable...or rather Ryuko did. Taiki insisted he take the couch since its not like he could feel discomfort anymore...

* * *

"He's late with his report… I wonder if something happened." A young man's voice mused to themselves as they paced back and forth in a rather bland looking beige room that had a desk, a chair, and some items needed to work.

The young man was wearing a black outfit with a shoulder cape, said outfit had a rather royal look to it, his hair being mostly black, though some strands of it appeared to be bleached to be a lighter color.

Suddenly, someone barged into his room, a Ganma with no parka over his body whatsoever, who quickly kneeled before the young man "Your majesty! Our scout who said he was on the verge of capturing Galileo, he's been defeated!"

The young man's eyes widened at this, shocked at this information, before they narrowed "Was it… _them_?"

The Ganma shook his head "No. From what we understand, they had nothing to do with his defeat, rather, it seems someone is gathering eyecons together."

The young man nodded, putting a hand to his chin in thought, before he turned to the Ganma "Relay this information to the rest of our troops, tell them to be on their guard and to immediately report any information they believe may be related to this Eyecon Hunter."

"At once your Majesty! Before I go though, we were able to obtain an image of this Eyecon Hunter." the Ganma said, holding up what appeared to be an Eyecon, though it lacked any buttons, and what appeared to be a short curved tail on the back, which was quickly handed to the young man, before the Ganma left the room to execute his orders.

The young man looked at the Eyecon for a moment, before pointing it at a wall, soon revealing an image projected onto it.

Said image was of Kamen Rider Ghost, charging ahead.

The young man narrowed his eyes "I see." he said lowly, glaring at the image "Let's see what you're made of, Eyecon Hunter."

* * *

 **DUN! DUN! DUUUUUUUUUUN!**

 **So, yeah, several things.**

 **First, yeah, I'm making use of the eyecons that were only used in the Ganbarizing cabinets, meaning Ghost will have forms he didn't have in canon, including Galileo obviously, which means we need to design abilities for those new forms.**

 **I'm gonna go wild with that since we don't have a budget, as you saw with Galileo being a COSMIC WARRIOR (TM) and he even had his own weapon.**

 **Next, the Stargazer Ganma, it's completely original, Timeless and I created it, and we'll likely create others as well, so don't bother looking it up.**

 **Third, yeah, remember that concept that was MENTIONNED but never used in Ghost about how the Ganma cause Parkas to appear? Yeah, it's getting used here.**

 **Seriously, the season had a lot of wasted potential, so we're just picking up the slack here.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and that I'll see you all next time!**


	3. Chapter 2

**And here's the next one everyone!**

 **I bet you're wondering which Luminary is next aren't you?**

 **Well, you'll see soon enough.**

 **I'm really having fun with this story, especially with which auxiliary eyecons Taiki obtains.**

 **I've finally finished deciding, as there were two that were going to go to Ghost and Necrom, but I didn't know who would get which one, yet I finally managed to decide just a little earlier.**

 **I can guarantee you guys this, the riders will have more forms than they did in canon, especially Specter and Necrom, who really missed out on having lots of Luminary forms orignally, but they'll have a few more here, not gonna say how many and which ones though, you'll find out when that happens.**

 **For now, let's start!**

* * *

 _Days remaining: 97_

"Man… this place is pretty big compared to the last town." Ryuko said as she and Taiki walked on the side of a small road.

"Yeah, with any luck, we'll find one or two Eyecons here, considering how much of that energy is apparently around." Taiki added as he was looking through the Luminary Notebook as he had come to call it.

"I'm not sensing any Parkas, so odds are none of them have been summoned, but if this is a hot spot, means some Ganma are likely active," Yurusen said.

"Right...so we'd better look for any signs that a Ganma is manipulating someone," Taiki mused. "Any suggestions on how to do that?"

"They're ghosts, duh," Yurusen said. "Go look for strange happenings and incidents around town. I'm sure a town like this has to have a rumor mill of some kind."

"Good as any place to start I guess," Ryuko shrugged, idly pulling out a small callendar they had, which they'd marked off so that they knew how much time they had left.

"Well...no choice. To the local gathering area...wherever that is!" Taiki said.

Turns out, the best place where the rumor mill gathered in the town was a ramen stand on wheels that kept going around town constantly, run by a petite woman that was surprisingly strong if she could carry the cart around.

She always kept her ears open when her customers would talk, so she had heard just about everything going on in town, from affairs, to highschool rumors, to the more weird ones. Among them were these weird power outages happening at random.

"Power outages?" Ryuko asked after slurping down some noodles, Taiki having opted out and lied to the woman, saying he had a big breakfast.

"Why yes, lately there have been several times when the power just drops around certain areas. Oh, I hope Sonoda isn't going overboard again," she sighs.

"Sonoda?" Taiki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He's a nice man, but a little eccentric. His ideas are honestly quite brilliant, but he keeps going overboard so nobody really sees his talent. It's a shame really, he always did idolize great inventors," she explained. "Why...I remember the time he was in such high spirits when he said he found an old light bulb, said it was one of the prototypes that belonged to Thomas Edison."

Taiki blinked a few times at that, glancing at Ryuko, who shrugged, her way of saying _Possibly_ before he glanced to the side, discreetly looking at Yurusen, who nodded in agreement, finally looking back at the woman "So, where does he live exactly?"

"Well...he lives in his lab over near the warehouses," the woman said. "If you see him, do make sure he's taking care of himself. He's not exactly a spring chicken anymore."

"We'll do that. Thanks for the ramen," Ryuko said as she paid for her food and they soon left.

"Well...if that wasn't a clue that we may be able to get Thomas Edison, I dunno what it is," Yurusen said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, from the sound of things, we arrived before the Ganma got to him, so we should be able to this the right way." Taiki said with a relieved smile.

"Or, the Ganma just hasn't finished driving him mad," Yurusen spoke up. "Don't worry though, as long as you get to them BEFORE the sacrifice part, it's perfectly possible to summon the Parka the right way."

"Good to know, but think you can be less dark about it?" Ryuko asked the spirit dryly.

"Nope!" Yurusen said cheerily before popping away.

"She really lifts the spirits, doesn't she?" Taiki said sarcastically.

"Wish I could shove the scissor blade down her throat sometimes." Ryuko shot back as the two made their way towards the warehouse area of town.

"Well, let's just get to it and see where it goes from here," Taiki sighed.

When they got the their destination, well….

"...I'm getting the mad scientist vibe already," Ryuko deadpanned as they looked at the large machine that was being built in the main area of the warehouse/lab. To the side, they also noticed a whiteboard with a man standing in front of it, writing on it, he was wearing a white lab coat over a bright yellow jumpsuit… and he was balding heavily, the only hair left on his head coming out from the sides and the back, being a bright blonde in color, and going all over the place, with a pair of triangular glasses over his face.

And standing right behind the man was what was most likely a Ganma, if the black body and belt was anything to go by. It was wearing a maroon colored parka with a yellow edge that had a lightning bolt motif to it. His head and hands meanwhile were strange antenna like objects, but they looked weird.

Taiki blinked a few times as the Ganma, who he named Denki in his head due to the clear electricity motif, was looking over the man's shoulder, seemingly interested in what he was writing down, before slowly getting up behind him and winding his leg up, picking a nice spot, and after aiming, crashing a powerful spin kick into the Ganma and sending him flying with a yell into a wall at the other end of the room, groaning as he fell to the floor, before a shelf he crashed next to broke and started unloading its contents on his head, ending with a bowling ball.

"What was that?!" Sonoda said in alarm...before he noticed Taiki and Ryuko. "And who are you two? If you're debt collectors, go away. I don't have any money," he said.

Taiki raised his hands up "Woah, woah, we aren't debt collectors, just two kids on a road trip that heard rumors and wondered what the power outages in town were about." he said peacefully.

"Oh, is that so?" Sonoda blinked, calming down instantly. "Sorry about that, I've been working so much on my device, I just can't afford to lose much time on it," he said, before grinning at the device.

"Is that the cause of the power outages? Mr. Sonoda, if it's okay, can I ask what that is?" Taiki asked.

"I'm glad you asked. This my boy, is a teleportation device," he said dramatically...before he noticed Ryuko looking at it curiously. "Please don't stand too close to it, I'm still working out the bugs," he said, gesturing to a bunch of stuffed objects...that had parts of them missing. "As you can see, I'm still working on getting things through in one piece."

"Uh.. right." Ryuko said nervously as she took a few steps back from it, eyeing it nervously in case it exploded.

"Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you," Taiki mused.

"Indeed. But I won't give up or rest!" Sonoda said. "As long as I keep working at it, I will find the way, and once I find that 1% of inspiration, my 99% of hard work will surely bring fruit!"

Taiki blinked at that, before smiling a bit "One of the more famous Edison quotes, I see you're a fan."

The man grinned brightly "One of his biggest! Let me show you." he said as he guided Taiki towards a shelf that contained a phonograph, a VERY old looking telephone, some other bits and pieces, and underneath a small glass dome was an old looking light bulb. "My collection of memorabilia I suppose you could call it, most of these are just replicas of some of Edison's inventions. BUT, this light bulb right here?" Sonoda said as he pointed at the covered light bulb "It's one of his original prototypes. It survived through all the years and is STILL operational to this day. I'd rather not turn it on though, so I don't burn it out."

"Good call, would be a shame if this burned out," Taiki nodded. However, before they could talk further, a banging on the door was heard.

"Sonoda! We know you're in there! Open up!" came a rather gruff voice.

"...those debt collectors you were talking about?" Ryuko asked in a somewhat deadpan tone, to which Sonoda was giving her a 'shhhh' gesture.

Taiki sighed, before looking at the man "Don't worry, we'll take care of them."

"Not like we have any choice really." Ryuko added jokingly as she and Taiki went to the door, nodding at each other, before kicking it open, sending the lead thug, who really did fit the stereotype just that he was tall and muscular, flying and crashing into another warehouse.

The two didn't even bother speaking, and just jumped right at the remaining thugs, quite easily kicking their asses, even though they had so many on their side.

In the end it took a good 10 minutes before they were all knocked out and part of a large pile.

"Well, that's that," Taiki said. "Now, Mr. Sono-" he didn't get to finish as when they turned around...Sonoda was gone...and he also noticed the Ganma was gone too. "...perfect…"

"Well then, guess you'll have to find him all over again," Yurusen said as she appeared with a chuckle. "Better call for some reinforcements," she added as she went to his bag, and out came the Condor Denwor and the Bat Clock. "Go help look for the Ganma," she instructed, to which the both of them flew away.

"Let's try to ask around, maybe someone knows places he likes to go to." Ryuko suggested.

"Yeah, maybe we can find that ramen stand again if we get lucky." Taiki added before the two set off back into town.

* * *

"Sonoda? Well...if I remember, he'd often like spending time in the museum. Said it helped him think," the woman said, while Ryuko was eating a bowl of ramen as they asked. "Now are you sure you don't want to eat? A growing boy like you needs to eat," she asked.

"No, its fine. And thank you for the info," Taiki waved off, though inwardly he had to admit, he did kinda want to try...but that'd just be wasting a bowl of perfectly good food if he did. Yeah...being dead sucked.

"Thanks again for the noodles," Ryuko said as she paid for her bowl and the two were soon off again.

"Okay, museum...museum...we forgot to ask where the museum is…" Taiki said.

"Well...let's ask for directions or look for a map," Ryuko suggested.

"Yeah, that's...look out!" Taiki shouted as he pushed them both out of the way, as a sudden blast of electricity.

"That's for the sucker punch from before!" the Denki Ganma shouted in annoyance from where he was standing on a nearby roof, while down below anyone who'd been nearby was now running away due to the sudden explosion.

"Well if its a fight you want, then fine by me!" Taiki growled as he summoned the Driver and activated the Ore Eyecon, inserting it into the driver and closing it.

" **EYE! BACHIRIMINA! BACHIRIMINA!** " the Driver chanted as the Ore Ghost flew around.

Taiki quickly grabbed the handle. "Henshin!" he called out and pulled before pushing back in.

" **KAIGAN: ORE! LET'S GO! KAKUGO! GHO-GHO-GHO-GHOST! GO! GO! GO!** "

Quickly summoning the Gan Gun Saber, Ghost jumped and flew towards the Denki Ganma who fired more electricity, but he managed to dodge, while Ryuko took cover. As much as she hated sitting in the sidelines, she knew this was very much out of her league since she couldn't fly, and that lightning would fry her.

Ghost reached the Ganma and lashed out with his sword, the Ganma blocking with his arms, but still getting knocked back a bit, before countering with a blast of lightning, blasing Ghost back a bit, but he quickly regained his footing.

"That...didn't even hurt…" he sighed. Sure it was useful, but it was still an annoying reminder for him. Shaking his head, he quickly got back into the fray, hitting the Ganma with several kicks before slashing with his sword, dealing decent damage.

"So annoying!" the Ganma growled as he tried to counter with a few electric charged punches.

"Whoa!" Ghost jumped back as a few punches almost hit. "Better keep my distance for this one," he frowned as he pulled out the Galileo Eyecon. "Galileo, lend me your power," he said as he replaced the Eyecon in the Driver and pulled then pushed the handle.

" **KAIGAN: GALILEO! TENTAI SHIRITAI! HOSHI-IPPAI!** "

Now in Galileo Damashii, the view around them turned into that of space, as several meteors flew around Ghost, blocking the Ganma's electric attacks.

"What the heck?!" the Ganma gasped, before he was promptly pelted by the meteors, causing him to fall back. "Okay, this might be a problem," he growled. "Well then...later!" he said, before aiming a blast to the ground, causing an explosion that kicked up dust, and when it subsided, he was gone.

"Wait, what?" Ghost said, blinking in confusion behind his visor "Did… did he just run away from me?"

" _It would appear so, that IS certainly jarring… and somewhat disappointing when we just turned the tide in our favor._ " Galileo responded in his mind.

"Well...he did attack us in the middle of the street…" Ghost mused, before his eyes widened. "He was just buying time!" he realized.

" _Hurry back to your friend!_ " Galileo said quickly as Ghost jumped back down and untransformed.

"Ryuko, we gotta go, he was distracting us!" Taiki said quickly.

"Son of a bitch!" Ryuko shouted in annoyance as she joined him and the two broke into a sprint.

When they arrived at the museum, they quickly asked the guard if he'd seen Sonoda. What they got…

"Sonoda? Well...he WAS here, but he just left. Was running back to the warehouse area while raving about how he'd 'figured it out'. Personally I think he needs to get his head examined," the guard shrugged.

Saying a quick thanks, the two of them were now running back to the lab. No doubt the Ganma had been buying time for Sonoda to find what he wanted. Once they made it back to the warehouse/lab, they were met with the sight of Sonoda furiously typing on a laptop. "Eureka! Eureka!" he shouted almost madly. "Finally...my device is finally complete! Now I have become a man on par with Edison!" he grinned as his body started to glow, along with the lightbulb on the table next to him.

"There it is! He's become a proper medium to summon the Parka!" Yurusen said as she popped out of nowhere.

"R-Right!" Taiki nodded, before they quickly got to the stairs...right before the machine came on.

"Wha?" Ryuko blinked as she felt a tug, while she noticed her scissor blade also seemed to be moving slightly towards the machine. Likewise, Taiki also stopped short, when stuff began coming through the windows and getting pulled into the portal. That's when he noticed it was all clothes...every last piece having the red strings.

"Wait… shit!" he said in realisation as he turned to Ryuko, who was slowly getting pulled towards the machine, trying to stop herself by planting her scissor blade in the ground.

"Fly away! Fly away! You damn Fibers!" came the Ganma's voice as he seemed to be laughing at the sight of the clothes that had the red strings flying into the machine.

"Wait, you're trying to get rid of those?" Taiki muttered in confusion.

"Worry about that later, take care of the machine first!" Yurusen advised him urgently, making him nod.

"Wh-what is this?!" Sonoda gasped. This wasn't how his machine was supposed to work!

Noticing his distress, Taiki glared at the Ganma. "What have you done?!" he demanded.

"He wanted a teleporter, I gave him one, just not quite what he had in mind!" the Ganma laughed. "And now that everything's ready, I'll be taking Edison now!"

"You're a real piece of work you know that?! Using a guy's dreams for your own sick ends!" Ryuko growled, and she idly noticed that she was starting to be able to see and hear the Ganma more clearly.

"He wanted to be a man like Edison, I'm only giving him what he wants. A grand invention that will benefit humanity! One life for an entire race seems like a small price to pay!" the Ganma countered.

"What the hell you bastard… All life is precious!" Taiki shouted angrily at the Ganma.

"Hey, you gotta stop that machine! It's not the teleporter you wanted!" Ryuko said to Sonoda.

"I...It's no good! Once its turned on, it can't be turned off!" Sonoda panicked.

"Are you going to give up?!" Taiki said, catching his attention. "What do you think Thomas Edison would do if he were here right now?!"

"Edison...he...he wouldn't give up!" Sonoda said in realization before going to his laptop and working furiously. He built this thing, and if there was anyone who could stop it, it would be him!

However, as he furiously worked, his body began glowing again, and the lightbulb as well, both resonating.

"It's here! It's here!" Yurusen said in excitement.

"I'll be taking that Parka!" the Ganma said.

"Not on my watch!" Taiki growled as he activated his Eyecon, inserted it into the driver and pulled and pushed the lever. "Henshin!"

" **KAIGAN: ORE! LET'S GO! KAKUGO! GHO-GHO-GHO-GHOST! GO! GO! GO!** "

The Ganma barely got close to the light bulb before he was hit with a haymaker to the cheek sending him flying down to the lower part of the lab.

"Get the Parka quick!" Yurusen shouted, earning a nod from Ghost, who quickly faced the lightbulb and performed the seal Sennin had showed him. The light bulb glowed brightly, as from it, a Parka emerged. The parka was a silver color with a yellow trim to it, on its hood were a pair of long antennae, and attached to the sleeves were two halves of a lightbulb that seemed to be able of coming together, a pair of yellow eyes shining in the darkness of the hood.

"Ah, it's good to be outside again." Edison spoke as he seemingly breathed in the air, before blinking in confusion "Well now, this is a strange sight to wake up on."

"Mr. Edison!" Ghost shouted, getting his attention. "You need to come with us quick!"

"Pardon?" Edison blinked at the sudden request. Too bad that was all the time the Ganma needed.

"Oh no you don't! You're mine!" the Ganma shouted as he shot Ghost with blasts of electricity, knocking him back, before turning to Edison and lunging for him. "Itadakimasu!" he shouted.

"What in the-?!" Edison barely managed to say before the Ganma grabbed hold of him and then there was a large ball of light before something emerged from it.

What emerged was… well, a monster, first and foremost, it looked like a cross between a battleship and a weird fish with human teeth at the front, with several parabolic antenna sticking out of its body, while walking on 6 mechanical legs.

"What the fuck is that?!" Ryuko gasped.

"That's what happens when a Ganma who already has a Parka gets their hands on an even stronger one on top of it!" Yurusen said in alarm. "It's a Giant Ganma!"

The Giant Ganma let out a bizarre sound before it smashed through a wall and out of the building.

"Hey wait!" Ghost shouted over the railing before growling. "Dammit! Ryuko, help Mr. Sonoda shut down the machine! I'm going after the Ganma!"

"Got it!" Ryuko nodded.

Ghost vaulted over the railing before running out, seeing the Ganma walking on and just destroying everything in its path "Yurusen! Do we have anything for that?!" Ghost asked urgently.

"We do! Come on, Captain Ghost!" Yurusen shouted into the air as she flew out of the hole after him.

Out of the air Ghost's symbol appeared, before something flew out of it.

That something, was a shrunk down black pirate galleon with red eyes and a mouth on it's hull, a large cannon on its front, tattered sails hanging off the masts, and a pair of reptile legs coming out of the hull.

"...okay? How do I use this?" Ghost asked after taking a second to take in the odd appearance.

"Use it in conjunction with the Machine Ghostriker!" Yurusen ordered.

"Right! Striker, come!" Ghost called out as Striker materialized next to to him as he ran, to which he got on quickly. Once he was on, the Captain Ghost flew in front of him, before it began to unfold, revealing what appeared to be some kind of mechanical iguana, with a slot on the back, which Ghost had a good idea what for. Pulling into a wheelie, Striker soon hopped into the back of the transformed Captain Ghost, the two fusing together, as the now iguana-like machine let out a few screeches as it began crawling on the ground...at a speed that was comparable to Striker at that.

"They're the Iguana Ghostriker now!" Yurusen said with glee. "Use this to take out that big guy!"

"Got it!" Ghost nodded as he began directing the Iguana Ghostriker, which soon jumped on a wall and used the walls and roofs to travel faster after the Giant Ganma. However, the target seemed to notice them, and once it got on a high enough roof, began generating a lot of electricity which it fired at them, though Ghost managed to direct his new mech to evade the attacks, slowly but surely getting closer until finally they were on the same roof. The Iguana Ghostriker didn't waste any time, and lunged forward, catching the Giant Ganma in its jaws, and the two began wrestling, while Ghost gunned the accelerator to give Iguana more power, while the Giant Ganma was firing electricity around almost wildly.

Meanwhile, back at the lab, Sonoda was furiously trying everything he could to shutdown the machine. However… "It's no good! No matter what I do, it won't accept any sort of termination command," he said.

"Then what do we do? There's gotta be something else we can do to pull the plug!" Ryuko growled.

Sonoda blinked, before his eyes widened. "That's it! Maybe we can't shut it down with the program, but if we literally pull the plug, there will be nothing to power the machine!" he said with a grin.

"Perfect, now where's the plug?" Ryuko asked.

At that, Sonoda's expression fell a little. "Its...uh...over there," he said, pointing to a plug that was a distance away, and around the machine. "But the machine is unstable! Who knows what might happen if we tried to approach it directly!"

Ryuko grit her teeth as she looked around. Whatever this machine was, it'd be dangerous if she approached herself. Not to mention that plug wasn't in a good angle to… she blinked when she realized that while like her, her scissor blade was being pulled, it wasn't nearly as strong as with the clothes, so… "When in doubt...do something reckless!" she smirked, before getting into a better position.

"Young lady, what are you doing?!" Sonoda asked in alarm.

"Pulling the plug!" Ryuko grinned as she hefted her scissor blade almost like a javelin, but had it a bit off. "Make this work!" she shouted as she threw it. As expected, mid-way through the flight, the hole began sucking it towards it, adjusting its trajectory, but with the speed and angle Ryuko had thrown it...it never got into the hole, instead, it cleared the hole and was now aimed right for the power line, which it speared, cutting the power. Immediately, the machine sputtered, trying to keep up with its command, but with no energy, it soon fizzled out.

Back with Ghost, he'd noticed the light from the portal had gone out. "They did it," he grinned under his helmet. "Well...can't let them outdo me now, can I?" he chuckled before pulling out the Gan Gun Saber, and slashed at the Ganma, causing it to recoil, and give Iguana the opening needed to ram it off the roof, causing it to fall on its back. Seeing the enemy down, Iguana did a bucking movement, telling Ghost to get off, which he did, before jumping down and pulling into a spin, ramming into the Giant Ganma like a buzz saw, the Giant Ganma sparking like crazy before finally exploding, ejecting the Ganma who rolled on the ground looking utterly dizzy, while Edison floated up to near where Ghost was.

"My...that was a horrible experience," Edison said, looking a little dizzy.

"I'm glad to see you're alright ." Ghost said in relief as he went up to the spirit of the great inventor.

"As am I young man, but would you mind telling me what exactly happened?" Edison requested, before blinking when he saw Iguana climb up on the roof "And is that a giant lizard?"

"It's a giant lizard yeah." Ghost said in amusement as Iguana came up to him and he patted his head, earning a low but pleased rumble from the creature "As for what happened, that monster down there is what's known as a Ganma, and he was after you so he could absorb you and become more powerful. Personally I was trying to find you because with the help of you and 14 others, I'll be able to come back to life."

"So, much like me, you are a spirit then?" Edison asked in interest.

"Yeah, I was murdered by someone with one half of a giant scissor, before I got given a second chance." Ghost said with a sigh.

"I see. Well, I wouldn't be opposed to lending a hand to a promising young man such as yourself." Edison said, and Ghost got the impression he was smiling.

"Thank you. Though, I have to ask if you would also be fine with lending me your power to fight?" Ghost asked.

"Of course! You saved me just now, so it's only fair I lend you my power." Edison said jovially, before flying towards Ghost and into the Driver, which then ejected a new Eyecon. This one was yellow in color, the image on top showing a lightbulb with the number 02 over it, and under it was the name EDISON.

"Right, let's fight together, Edison," Ghost nodded before activating the Eyecon, the number '02' appearing on the iris, and then loading it into the Driver.

" **EYE! BACHIRIMINA! BACHIRIMINA!** " the belt sang as Edison's Parka emerged, floating around him for a bit, before he pulled and pushed the handle. " **KAIGAN: EDISON! EREKI! HIRAMEKI! HATSUMEI-O~!"** The jingle finished as electricity sparked between the two antenna on Ghost's hood when Edison settled on him, the lightbulb halves moving to become shoulder armor, as he held a hand out and the Gan Gun Saber appeared, before he slid off the usual piece, but then slid it back into the blade only with the edge pointing backwards, revealing a gun barrel, as he tilted the blade down so it had more of a gun shape.

"How many modes does this thing have?" Taiki couldn't help but comment, but shrugged as he figured it wasn't important right now, before jumping down.

On the ground, the Denki Ganma had finally shaken off his dizziness, and Ghost could tell he was glaring at him when they saw each other again. "You just couldn't leave me be, could you?!" he growled.

"What, you thought I'd just let you kill an innocent person and wreak havoc after kidnapping Edison? You have a weird brain if you actually expected that." Ghost said with a sigh, enjoying how the Ganma was getting incensed.

"And I've just about had enough of seeing your dumb face!" the Ganma shot back, and fired wild blasts of electricity.

Ghost moved to dodge, but when any electricity went near him, they instead were drawn to the conductors on his head...and absorbed harmlessly into his Parka, the light bulb on his faceplate even lighting up.

" _I wonder if he actually expected that to work on us?_ " Edison mused in his mind.

"My guess, he probably did." Ghost said dryly… as the Denki Ganma was actually firing more and more electricity, and Ghost was nowhere near close to an overload.

" _In that case, let's make him blow a fuse._ " Edison said with a laugh, and Ghost agreed with the idea as he scanned his weapon over his belt. " **DAI KAIGAN!"** The electricity in his body soon gathered up the conductors on his hood, before flowing into his weapon as he held it in both hands, waiting for a good amount of charge, before jumping off the roof, lining up his shot, and hitting the trigger " **OMEGA SHOOT!"** "Science Sparking Shot!" Ghost added to the name of the attack, firing a large blast of electricity from the Gan Gun Saber right at the Ganma, who was helpless to move in time before the blast engulfed him and caused him to overload, destroying both his body and his parka at the same time.

With that done, Ghost undid the transformation and let out a sigh. That...was more tiring than expected. Looking at the Edison Eyecon, he turned to the lab and walked back.

* * *

"So that's what happened…" Sonoda frowned as he looked at the Eyecon in his hand. After Taiki returned, he and Ryuko had decided to tell him the full story. After a few moments, he put the Eyecon back into Taiki's hand. "Here, I believe you should hold on to this. You clearly need this far more than I could ever need it," he said with a smile.

"You sure? I mean, yeah, I was gonna ask to hang on to it, but with how much you idolized Edison…" Taiki started.

"Well, yes, but while I DO idolize him, it's not right to try to BE him," Sonoda chuckled. "That's what all this has taught me," he said with a smile. "And besides, you're the one who needs this to come back to life."

"Thanks a lot. To be honest I was worried we'd have to run back to get Edison or something." Ryuko sighed, glad her friend had one less hurdle to go through to come back to life.

"We'll be sure to call you though if we ever need your help." Taiki told the scientist with a smile.

Sonoda smiled back "And I'll be happy to do so. Thanks again for making sure I didn't die." the man chuckled "And good luck on your journey Taiki, I hope you succeed one day."

"So do we." Taiki said with a nod, before he and Ryuko left, with Sonoda wishing them well.

"Well, that's another down." Ryuko said with a light grin as they walked through town.

"Yeah, just 13 left." Taiki said with a light smile.

"And not only that, but I can feel a bit more spiritual energy in town, so I'm pretty sure there's more Ganma around, meaning likely more Luminaries to find." Yurusen said as she popped in suddenly.

"Well then, time for some more ghost hunting." Ryuko said with a grin as she punched her palm.

"After we get some rest." Taiki told her with a chuckle, considering that looking for Sonoda all over town had ended up taking most of the day.

"Fine." Ryuko said with a smirk as the two went to find a place to sleep.

They still had work to do after all.

* * *

 **And there you have it!**

 **Taiki gained another Eyecon in the form of Edison!**

 **You know what? I liked how the show kept a tally of Eyecons, so I want to do that too, just down in the author's note.**

 **So, at the moment, things are like this;**

 **Ghost: Ore, Musashi, Galileo, Edison**

 **Yeah, I'm gonna include the personal eyecons in the list.**

 **Besides, this will help me keep track of who has what Eyecon as well.**

 **And yeah, I'm reusing most of the characters from Ghost.**

 **It works because KLK is set on Earth in Japan, and hey, I even said in the prologue that Taiki and Ryuko were in West Kanto, and are making their way East towards Honnouji.**

 **Obviously, Akari, Onari and Takeru aren't being used here.**

 **But honestly, that's good, because I have issues with Takeru that I don't want to talk about because it'll ruin my good mood.**

 **Anyway, hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Next chapter!  
**

 **This one might surprise you all a little.**

* * *

 _Days remaining: 96_

"Okay, we're off to a great start I'd say," Taiki mused. "Now...where to look next?"

"If I'd suggest, try somewhere other than the Ramen stand," Yurusen suggested. "I'm pretty sure you can only get so much out of that."

"...fair point," he sighed.

"Though, that DOES leave us back to square one in a way," Ryuko frowned.

She suddenly felt Taiki put his hand on her shoulder, making her look at him, before he pointed to her other side, making her turn again to see they were in front of an electronics store that had TVs on display, a small speaker sticking out the window in a cage while the TVs were turned on and showing the local news.

"Once again, the notorious Kaitou Little John, with his seemingly invisible power, has successfully robbed the local head office of Revocs. Stealing a total of 300 Million Yen, of what have been revealed to be illicit funds. So far the main company has denied any allegations of being involved with the scandal. As for the funds, they have been once again distributed among the needy. It seems that this Little John is truly a Robin Hood for the modern age. This has been Mari Shirase reporting." The newscaster reported.

The two watching blinked, before sharing a deadpan look "Delivered on a silver platter." Ryuko said dryly.

"Guess our next Eyecon is Robin Hood. At least it's one of the 15 we're looking for, so that's good, we're getting two back to back." Taiki said with a sigh.

"So… how do we do this?" Ryuko asked after a moment.

"Well… we'd need to find Little John, he probably has an item that evokes Robin Hood to him." Taiki said after some slight thought.

"If it's Robin Hood, then odds are it's a bow or something. I mean, the guy is literally famous for his archery," Ryuko shrugged. "Well...guess it's time to ask around again…"

"I get the feeling this is going to be a routine," Taiki sighed, before a thought crossed his mind. "Hm…"

"Did you think of something?" Ryuko asked.

"Yeah...didn't you think it's kinda strange how that newscaster specifically said 'Robin Hood'?" Taiki asked.

Ryuko thought about it for a moment, and realized what he was getting at. "Hey, you're right. I mean, Robin Hood may be famous, but he's not the ONLY guy to use this style of thieving. You'd think in Japan the first name that would come to mind is Goemon," Ryuko said.

"So… I think that newscaster may be hiding something. Maybe she knows Little John herself... or maybe we're just reading into it too much and she likes english literature." Taiki said, muttering that last part to himself.

"Any clue is better than nothing I guess," Ryuko shrugged, but the two of them sighed at realizing that even with this clue...they've got their work cut out for them.

First things first, they needed to see where they could find the newscaster. Fortunately, they could easily find the network that provided the news story, so that was one thing. The next issue…

"Now… how do we get a chance to talk to her?" Taiki said with a sigh.

"Well… sorry for making you remember, but you're a ghost right? I've seen you fly, but do you think you can do other ghost things? Like go invisible or phase through solid objects?" Ryuko suggested.

"Well… maybe. I don't know how though." Taiki said, tapping his chin in thought.

"Well...why don't you go...find out!" Yurusen said, suddenly popping up behind him, and with a surprising show of strength, shoved him forward...right into a wall.

"Ah crap!" Taiki said as he stumbled, trying to regain his balance, only to end up… going through the wall, landing face first on the ground as his legs were halfway outside of it.

Slowly, he got back up, going the rest of the way inside the wall, sticking his head back out and glaring at Yurusen, giving her the 'I'm watching you gesture', before going back through the wall.

Yurusen was chortling at everything that just happened, before she let out a yelp as Ryuko used the handle of her scissor blade to slap the trolling spirit into the ground...to which she flew right through the ground. "Boy you two can't take a joke," the little imp snickered as she floated out of the ground. "Well, have fun looking for the Eyecon," she laughed as she vanished again.

* * *

Searching for his mark took some time, but eventually Taiki found who he was looking for. One Mari Shirase, walking to her car in the parking lot.

"...I feel like a creepy stalker…" Taiki deadpanned to himself as he materialized a distance behind her and called out to her. "Excuse me? Ms. Shirase?"

"Huh? Where did you come from?" she asked in surprise, not that Taiki could blame her.

"Someone left a back door open." Taiki lied easily enough, it was nothing new after having to bail Ryuko out of trouble so many times. "That's not important though, I wanted to talk to you about that report you did on Little John, if you have the time of course."

Shirase seemed a bit surprise, but the young man seemed earnest enough. "Well...alright, I don't mind," she said. "What did you want to ask about?"

"I guess why you mentioned 'Robin Hood' in particular for one," Taiki said. "I guess I thought it was kinda odd that you mentioned a figure from English Literature of all places."

Shirase chuckled at that. It seemed this wasn't the first time someone asked her that. "Well...Robin Hood fought against corruption, didn't he?" she started, earning a nod. "And Little John was one of his Merry Men, so I felt it would fit."

"I see…" Taiki mused.

"Was there anything else?" she asked him simply.

"Well, what's your opinion of Little John? Personally I think he's got good intentions… even if the way he does things could be better." Taiki said, finishing with a shrug.

Shirase smiled lightly "In my own personal opinion, I approve of his goals. What he's doing is just, and it helps those in need. Though I do suppose he could be a bit more discreet," she said, before her expression fell a little. "The public also seems like they want to applaud him. After all, there are many who are oppressed by the strong and unjust…" she said softly, as a scene began playing out in her mind, one that had haunted her for years. "My father was killed because of those kinds of corrupt violence…right in front of me..." she said, though whether it was to him or to herself...it was hard to say.

"I can't say I understand how that can feel, not having parents myself." Taiki said with a frown "But I do know someone who'd understand how you feel about that."

"Then in a way you'd be able to understand. There are people who need this kind of justice," she said.

"Yeah, that's true. Though my friend decided to take matters into her own hands." Taiki said with a slight smile as he thought of Ryuko.

"Then I wish her the best of luck. She deserves that justice," Shirase said, before giving him a polite nod and soon walking off. As she did, Taiki sighed a little. He had a feeling this was more than just agreeing with the ideals of Little John. No, he had a feeling she was a lot more personally involved than she let on in public.

* * *

When Taiki walked back out of the wall, he blinked a few times at the sight he saw.

Ryuko was sitting on a bench, blowing a bubble of gum, and sitting next to her was… ok, it was weird, but it was a man in a santa outfit, wearing a hawaiian print shirt beneath the red coat, with a pair of small round sunglasses over his eyes, he also lacked any sort of beard, and he was clearly bald beneath the hat, while down on the ground in front of the man was a large bag.

"Uh…" Taiki blinked, to which Ryuko noticed him and waved, though in the process the bubble she was blowing popped, causing her to try to clean if off as fast as she could. Once she got if off…

"There you are. Was wondering when you'd get back," Ryuko said, looking a little sheepish at what just happened. "So...did you find her?"

"Yeah, I did," Taiki nodded. "Though, more importantly…" he trailed off looking at the odd man. "Who's this?"

"Merry Christmas!" the man grinned. "Everyone calls me Santa-chan around here," he said, before going into his bag, and pulling out a present. "Here you go."

The object pulled out of the bag was a paintball gun of all things, which he handed to Taiki with a grin.

"Um… thank you. You're a bit late on Christmas though." Taiki said in slight confusion.

"Nonsense, it's never too late for Christmas," Santa-chan said jovially. "Just cause the day passed, doesn't mean you shouldn't treat every day like it."

"Well...I guess that's a good way of looking at it," Ryuko mused. "So uh...do you like...do this often?"

"Every day. You could say I have a 'santa sense' that tells me when someone could be in need of a gift," he chuckled. "And speaking of which, I'd better get going. Plenty more presents to give. Have a good day, kids," he said in a jolly voice as he practically skipped away.

"Well… that was… nice." Taiki said after a moment, looking at the gun before shrugging as he put it in his jacket, could be fun to mess around with it after all.

"Yeah, he even gave me some gum when he found me, said I didn't look like I needed anything but that he should still give me something." Ryuko said with a shrug.

"That's not the only thing that's nice. Look at that," Yurusen said as she suddenly popped up, prompting them to look...and jaw drop when they saw a glowing yellow aura around Santa-chan's retreating form, before a few people passed and suddenly he was gone.

Taiki and Ryuko both looked like they had swallowed a lemon whole as they stared at the spot where Santa-chan used to be, before slowly, their eyes darkened, as they turned towards Yurusen "And you didn't say anything sooner… because?" Taiki said in a dangerous tone.

"Ehe...well...I figured you'd notice so….aha...look at the time, gotta go!" she popped out of existence quickly, narrowly evading the Scissor blade that swung where she used to be.

"I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but come on Ryuko, we're on a Santa hunt!" Taiki said flatly.

"Yeahp," Ryuko deadpanned as well as the two soon took off to find Santa-chan.

Now, one would THINK finding a guy wearing a Santa suit in this time of year would be easy but…

"How hard can it be to find a guy in a goddamn Santa suit...in JANUARY?!" Taiki roared into the sky a good 3 hours later.

Turns out, it wasn't as easy as one might think.

Shortly after, the two were sitting on a bench, Ryuko having gotten a drink from a nearby vending machine. "Well...that could have gone better…" she groaned. "Look on the bright side. At least Santa isn't one of the 15," she tried to say in consolation.

"I guess yeah, still annoying we had one right in our face and we lost it." Taiki said with a groan. "Now Santa-chan is probably at risk of a Ganma finding him… no clue how he could make him obsessed though."

"I don't think they could make him any MORE obsessed if they tried," Ryuko deadpanned. At the questioning look Taiki gave her, she simply said. "He's a guy in a santa getup in the middle of January. There's keeping Christmas at heart every day...and there's whatever he does."

"...good point…" Taiki conceded, though that did give him an amused thought. "Hey, think the only reason Santa hasn't been summoned is cause the Ganma just can't get through whatever goes through his head?"

Ryuko thought about that...and soon found herself laughing at the mental image of a bunch of Ganma TRYING to drive Santa-chan crazy...only for the guy to be as happy and jolly as ever, to the point the Ganma were left tearing out their non-existent hairs. "Yeah, I think he'll be just fine till we find him again," she said, letting out a few more chuckles. "Come to think of it, what did you find out from Shirase? You never mentioned it earlier."

"Oh right. Well...for starters, she definitely agrees with what Little John is doing...though I'd say she's got a more personal stake in this due to her past," Taiki said. "Funny thing...she's a lot like you in a way. You both saw your dads...you know…" he said, not needing to elaborate. "So yeah, she agrees with Little John, but I'd honestly say she might be more deeply connected to him than she lets on. She did call this justice after all."

"So you think she might be in cahoots with Little John?" Ryuko frowned. If Shirase had seen her dad die in front of her and saw this as a form of justice...yeah, it would make sense if she'd want in on it too.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Taiki nodded. "Though again, can't exactly prove or disprove anything as is...guess we've got no choice but to wait till they make a move again. Hopefully they try something again soon."

"Well...it's getting late, so I guess nothing to do but turn in for the day," Ryuko shrugged, marking off another date off the calendar. Not the most productive way to use a day, but at least they're making progress.

* * *

 _Days remaining: 93_

"I swear to god, something better happen today." Taiki muttered bitterly as he and Ryuko walked through town.

"3 whole days with nothing happening. Jeez, we've got horrible luck." Ryuko said with a sigh. They hadn't even been able to find Santa-chan again despite attempts to locate him…

"Well...here's hoping Little John has FINALLY decided to do...SOMETHING again…" Taiki groaned as he opened a newspaper...and found something. "...jackpot."

"Is Little John finally on the move again?" Ryuko asked excitedly.

"Yeah, says here he delivered a calling card to some local businessman. The target they're going after is...this authentic middle age bow that the guy purchased not long ago," Taiki read.

"And there's our catalyst," Ryuko grinned. "I've seen several stories like these. I bet they put in a date and time or something, right?"

"You'd be right. He's going after the bow this very evening," Taiki nodded.

"Perfect," Ryuko grinned as she punched her palm. "This is the chance we've been waiting for to get Robin Hood."

"Then we'd better pull out all the stops. This might be our one and only chance," Taiki nodded.

"So, stakeout the building to see if we can't spot them?" Ryuko asked knowingly.

"I'll stick to them like a ghost on a haunted house," Taiki grinned.

* * *

The time of the heist couldn't have come sooner, as Ryuko was keeping an eye on things from outside, in a way that she would be able to see where Little John would be coming from. Earlier, Taiki had used his ghost abilities to sneak in and confirm the location of the bow, and from there, he was still in there to see the heist happen as it did...and to catch whatever Ganma was no doubt helping Little John.

So far things were quiet, right before Ryuko noticed something a good distance away from the mansion. It stopped, and soon someone left it, proving that it was some kind of car. Ryuko held her ground for now, wanting to confirm that it was who they were waiting for. True enough, when the figure got close, she could tell that it was indeed Little John based on the outfit. With that in mind, she parkoured her way to a range from the car, took out the paintball gun...and shot one on the roof, and one on the bumper. "Thank you, Santa-chan," she smirked as now they had marked the car for identification.

Likewise, inside the mansion, things were hectic as well. To any guards on the scene, it was like an invisible force was pushing them away from the phantom thief, throwing them into the wall, stopping them from making any notable resistance. However, to Taiki, it was a very different story. He could see it. The Ganma that was helping Little John. It was one with a head of red hair falling down his back, wearing what looked like a native american style coat with cow skulls on his shoulders, a large axe head sticking out of his torso, while he held a tomahawk in his hand.

"Hey hey, don't you think you're being a bit rough, Ono Ganma?" Taiki smirked, catching the Ganma's attention.

"What the?! Who are you?!" the Ganma growled.

"Just the guy who's gonna be kicking your ass," Taiki said, as he activated the Ore Eyecon and inserted it into the Ghost Driver, before grabbing the handle. "Henshin!" he pulled then pushed, activating the transformation. Ghost didn't hesitate to lunge forward, slashing at the Ganma who blocked it with his axes.

"Don't get in my way!" the Ganma growled, before countering with his axes, which he threw at Ghost, who managed to dodge most of them, while blocking a few with his sword.

"Okay, maybe short range is no good," Ghost frowned, but with the barrage of axes coming, changing Eyecons would take too long. With that in mind he manually adjusted the Gan Gun Saber into gun mode, and fired. What followed was a rather impressive two way battle where both sides were trying to hit the other with their projectiles, the Ono Ganma actually managing to keep up with the gunfire...though it helped that Ghost's weapon didn't seem to have a rapid fire ability, so that definitely gave the Ono Ganma some time to counter. Then there was another issue, the people around. "Damn...better take this outside," Ghost growled, before quickly switching to Musashi, then using the twin swords to block the various axes, managed to push the Ganma out of the building.

The two were soon duking it out outside of the building, Ghost knocking aside any axes thrown his way, while the Ono Ganma's axes attached to his body were enough to stop any real damage from getting through from the swords. "This is turning into a real stalemate," Ghost growled.

" _Better a stalemate in the open than a bloodbath in a closed space._ " Musashi told him, and Taiki couldn't help but agree.

"Good point. Still though, one of us is gonna have to give eventually," Ghost frowned. "Well, let's end this as soon as we can!" he added before scanning his sword. " **DAI KAIGAN! OMEGA SLASH!** " His swords ignited, but the Ono Ganma saw it coming, and throwing two of its axes, caught the blades mid-swing, creating a battle of wills between his weapons and Ghost's, ending in an explosion, which obscured Ghost's vision. When it cleared, the Ono Ganma was gone. "He got away," Ghost frowned in annoyance.

" _Perhaps my power isn't the best one to defeat him then._ " Musashi said simply.

"Maybe. Gotta find something to get past those dang axes," Ghost frowned before undoing the transformation. "I wonder how Ryuko's doing on her end…"

* * *

"Motherfucker." Ryuko muttered as she was wearing a long coat to avoid being seen too easily as she tried to follow the car she had tagged, having seen Little John get away, with a Ganma trailing after him shortly after.

Just when she was about to turn a corner, she saw a pair of headlights, deciding to hide between two close together apartments, and poking her head out, seeing the car she was tailing, going back around and then down the way it came.

"Did he notice me?" she muttered, figuring they were trying to lose her.

Before long, they actually turned on a different path, with Ryuko starting to tail them again, making sure to keep a bit more distance this time.

Understandably keeping up with a car wasn't easy, but since she had the parkour option...and the fact that the car couldn't go TOO fast in this situation, as they were going through winding paths, and even headed for the woods if she was reading this right. Eventually though, she saw the car indeed going through the woods. Giving it a bit of time, she soon got to ground level and started following any tracks, till she eventually found a car...and confirmed that it was the same one due to the paint stains, and it was near a decent sized building in the woods that just SCREAMED 'hideout'. Getting some distance quickly just to be sure, she made a note of the location, and went for a public payphone, dialing the Condor Denwor's number.

It was barely past the first ring before Taiki picked up "Did you find him?"

"Yeah. He's hiding out in a house a little bit outside of town, west side, meet me there." Ryuko told him, soon ending the call.

Taiki nodded from where he was, as he let the Condor Denwor unfold into its machine form, and soon used it as a guide, calling Striker to help him cover ground faster.

Back at the hideout, Ryuko was sneaking around the outskirts, making sure not to be in a position she could easily be seen. She wanted to charge in, but well...she knew better than to go into a fight with not just a Phantom Thief who no doubt wouldn't take kindly to her barging in, but also a Ganma that managed to get away from Taiki. So with that in mind, she waited, though she had a firm grasp on her scissor blade in the event the Ganma showed up. However, what she did NOT expect, was to look at the hideout...and notice Santa-chan of all people walking around there.

"What the heck is HE doing there?" she blinked in surprise at seeing the eccentric man seemingly snooping around...right before she noticed Little John come out, sneak up behind the man, and knock him out, before dragging him into the hideout.

Despite what had happened, Ryuko had a HUGE sweatdrop at the sight that just took place. This...was getting strange.

Unsurprisingly, when Taiki came and she relayed what happened, he too had a huge sweat drop on his head at what she'd told him. "What the heck is wrong with this town?"

"Somehow I get the feeling madness lies down the path to that answer," Ryuko deadpanned.

"...I believe the young lady is right," came the dry voices of all three of the Eyecons they'd gathered so far.

"...let's just get the Eyecons, get rid of the Ganma, then get out of this town," Taiki deadpanned. He sincerely hoped the next towns they went to weren't this strange, even if the people were nice...in their own way.

With that in mind, they soon entered the building. They soon found a room full of windows, and Santa-chan bound and gagged to a chair. "Geez, what the heck were you thinking coming here?" Ryuko sighed as they started letting the poor man go.

Taiki shook his head at the sight, before shifting his focus on the bow that was left sitting on a table not far away, before going to look at it...until he felt a presence behind him...but didn't do anything, as when the blow came down...it promptly went through him. "Nice try. That would have worked for anyone who wasn't dead," Taiki said dryly, as Little John went stumbling right through him. Understandable seeing as normally when someone tries that, they'd hit something solid.

"W-what?! What are you?!" Little John asked… in a woman's voice.

"A ghost." Taiki said dryly as he crouched down in front of her and grabbed the hood, pulling it off to reveal… Mari Shirase.

"The reporter?" Ryuko said in surprise as she recognized the woman, finishing up with freeing Santa-chan.

"It makes sense now that I think about it." Taiki said thoughtfully "At first, I thought maybe Little John was a family member, a friend, or a lover, but it was you the whole time."

"You've heard my story. You know why I'm doing this," she frowned, getting some distance, not that Taiki stopped her.

"Your father," Taiki nodded. "But are you sure you're going about this the right way?" he checked, keeping an eye around for the Ganma that was no doubt lurking somewhere.

"I tried doing what I thought was right at first…" she shot back.

"Let me guess, legal way didn't work out the way you hoped?" Ryuko asked, having an idea that was why she went illegal instead. The slight nod Shirase couldn't stop confirmed that much.

"But Mari-chan, do you really think this is what your dad would have wanted?" Santa-chan suddenly spoke up.

"Eh? You know her?" Taiki blinked.

"Well yeah, we used to play together as kids," Santa-chan revealed. "I know things have been hard for you since that day, but still…is this really the right way? Can't you try again? Try that way you once believed in?" he pleaded, worry in his voice.

"Zennosuke-san…" Shirase murmured...before another figure appeared behind her.

"You're not in the wrong. You're doing the right thing," the Ganma said into her ear, and suddenly her expression changed back to that of determination.

"I can't turn back now," she said. "My unseen power...it is the power I wield for justice! Its my version of Robin Hood's bow!" when she said that, a dark purplish aura started to cover her and the bow next to her.

"Okay, that can't be good," Ryuko frowned.

"It's not," Yurusen said as she suddenly popped up. "That's the sign a Ganma is close to driving them to the point of becoming a viable sacrifice to pull a Parka into this world!"

"Your power isn't as unseen as you think, nor does it belong to you." Taiki said, as the Kumo Lantern suddenly dropped down from the ceiling where it was hiding and peppered the area in its particles, revealing the Ganma.

"W-what?!" Shirase gasped when she saw the Ganma, before the Condor Denwor and the Bat Clock came flying out of Taiki's jacket, and hit him in the face, forcing him out of the building.

"That was a Ganma. It was simply making it look like you had powers so it could use you to draw the spirit of Robin Hood into the world! It wanted to use you as a sacrifice!" Taiki said.

"N-no way...then…" Shirase's voice trembled at what he told her. She wanted to deny it, wanted to assert her desire to be a modern day Robin Hood...but she couldn't deny what she'd just seen. "But this...is all I…"

"Don't say this is all you have left!" Santa-chan actually shouted. "Maybe you don't feel that way, but there's definitely more for you! Maybe that thing was toying with you, but then...that doesn't mean you don't have any power! You told me back then...you wanted to reveal the truth! So why don't you do that now?"

"He's right!" Ryuko added "Instead of trying to make life change, reach out to the truth!"

"You said it yourself, Robin Hood fought against corruption! He had his way, you have your way! So don't try to be him, but follow his lead in your own way!" Taiki finished.

Shirase gasped as all the words hit her. Where had she lost sight of why she walked down this path? Realizing the truth in their words, she gave a firm nod, and the dark aura dissipated, replaced with a bright yellow aura, which also covered the bow.

"Alright," Taiki couldn't help but grin at seeing the Ganma's influence gone, and the light as well. However, before he could go in summon the Parka, Santa-chan suddenly stepped forward and placed his bag next to the bow.

"Merry Christmas. I have a feeling this will help you out somehow," he smiled, as he too was covered in a bright yellow light, same as the bag.

Taiki blinked, looking at Santa-chan in surprise, before grinning in thanks "In that case…" he trailed off, holding both hands up in the correct seal and drawing the eye over both the bag and the bow.

Out of their respective seals came two different parks.

First, out of the bag came a parka in the form of a red coat with a white and fluffy edge to the coat, a black belt around the waist of the parka, and the hood had a white fluffy ball hanging off of it in the back, while dangling off the sleeves were a pair of small green ropes with bells hanging at their ends, while green eyes glowed within the hood.

Out of the bow, came a green parka with a yellow edge, having a medieval inspired design, his hood holding a yellow feather attached to it, with two long streamer like pieces with metallic ens acting like a pair of arms, while green eyes glowed inside the hood.

"Ah, it's good to be out." Robin Hood said as he seemingly stretched himself with a sigh.

"Ho ho ho, it is indeed. Thank you young man," Saint Nick, or rather Santa Claus said with a jolly laugh.

"I was happy to help." Taiki said with a smile, and he honestly was. There was no way he was going to allow a repeat of what happened to the person who summoned Galileo, nor would there be a repeat of the Edison incident. "I know this is sudden, but please lend me your power before the Ganma tries to hurt anyone else!" he said.

The two Parkas seemed to look at each other before the two nodded. "I will gladly aid you in protecting people from the Ganma," Santa Claus smiled, before going into his Driver, forming the Santa Claus Eyecon, it was red in color, the image on top showing a green christmas tree, over it was the letter X, and beneath it was SANTA CLAUS.

"As long as you make sure you help those who truly need it first, then you'll continue to have my assistance." Robin Hood said with a firm nod, before he flew into the Driver next, forming a green eyecon that showed a bow and arrow pointing downwards, above it was the number 03, and below the image was the name ROBIN HOOD.

"Alright, that's two more Eyecons," Taiki nodded...right before a wall broke as the Ono Ganma came back. "Oh yeah, almost forgot about you," he said with a blink.

"Really now? Well, I've had just about enough of YOU!" the Ono Ganma growled before drawing several Eyecons and throwing them into the air, summoning fourth a small army of Ganma Commandos.

"Not these guys again," Ryuko growled.

"Ryuko, get them out of here. This is going to get messy," Taiki frowned as he quickly transformed and drew his sword.

"Got it," Ryuko nodded. First things first was getting people out of the way, to which Shirase and Santa-chan didn't try to protest as she ushered them away.

"Alright then," Ghost nodded as he turned to the Ganma. "You want me?" he smirked...before running off. "Then come get me!"

The Ganma all looked at each other almost dumbly, before chasing after him.

Once they were outside, Ghost didn't hesitate to pull out the Santa Claus Eyecon he'd just gotten. "Have you all been naughty or nice?" he smirked, before switching Eyecons. The usual standby jingle played as the Santa Claus parka flew out of the belt and actually started to hit some of the Ganma with the bells on his arms, producing a chime with each hit, before Ghost pulled and pushed on the lever. " **KAIGAN: SANTA CLAUS!"** The parka floated down onto his shoulders as the tassels with bells on them moved up to rest on his shoulders, the faceplate coming up and showing off a christmas tree with a star on top that was green in color, sleigh bells being heard chiming at the same time " **JINGLE BELL! HOSHI FURU! SEINARU YORU!"**

"Now then," Ghost mused as a white bag appeared from his belt. "Let's see what we have here…" he chuckled before pulling out several stockings, and throwing them at the Ganma. They actually homed in on several, before growing bigger then clonking them on the head, coal falling out of the stockings when they hit the ground. "Lumps of coal. You've been naughty boys," Ghost smirked, before rummaging around more. "Merry Christmas!" he laughed as he threw out the presents he'd pulled out, to which they exploded with various effects when the Ganma got near. "Please be careful of gag gifts," Ghost couldn't help but laugh.

"Stop messing around! Get him!" the Ono Ganma roared.

"Now then, why don't see what's under the tree for all of you?" Ghost said as he pulled and pushed the lever again " **DAI KAIGAN! SANTA CLAUS! OMEGA DRIVE!"** Suddenly, several christmas trees started sprouting out of the ground, all fully grown and decorated. "Explosive...Holy Night!" he called out as the trees suddenly started lifting up the ground, firing into the sky like rockets… before they pointed back down, homing in on the Ganma, who tried to run away in fear, before the bombastic decorations destroyed them.

"Did that get them all?" Ghost wondered...before an axe flew through the smoke, hitting him dead on and knocking him to the ground. "Okay, one is still there," he groaned as he got up. True enough, the Ono Ganma stepped out of the smoke...and covered in a strong aura like a barrier.

"Nice try, but you're not getting past MY defenses!" the Ono Ganma smirked.

"Wanna bet?" Ghost frowned as he threw more gifts and stockings...no effect. They all bounced off the barrier.

"Okay...that's not working," Ghost frowned again as he was forced to dodge, trying to counter with his own projectiles when he could, but they all bounced off.

Likewise, by then, Ryuko had arrived not far away, and saw the fight. Seeing that her friend was in a bind, she tried to see if she could find an opening. Maybe some kind of weakness for the seemingly impenetrable barrier. So far, it sure seemed solid. Every hit Ghost was doing wasn't making a dent...until he noticed a flash. "Wait...isn't that…?" she blinked, before focusing carefully...and realized it was. "Taiki! The barrier has an opening each time he throws one of his axes!" she shouted when she confirmed that yes, a gap opened each time to let the axes thrown out.

"Thanks Ryuko!" Taiki nodded as he dodged and watched carefully, confirming that yes...there WAS a gap...that lasted for only a moment or two. "Okay...gonna need some sharp shooting for this one," he frowned, before pulling out the Robin Hood Eyecon. "Lend me your power, Robin Hood!" he said as he replaced the Santa Clause Eyecon with the Robin Hood Eyecon.

As the standby noise played and the Santa parka disappeared from Ghost's body, the Robin Hood parka flew out of the belt, with Ghost quickly pulling and pushing the lever " **KAIGAN: ROBIN HOOD!"** The parka descended on his body, bringing up the bow shaped faceplate with an arrow going down the middle, as the long tassels rested on his back now, the sound of an arrow being heard flying through the air " **HELLO! ARROW! MORI DE AOU!"** As the transformation finished, Ghost held out his hand, summoning the Gan Gun Saber in gun mode, before Condor Denwor flew around him, soon attaching itself to the tip of his weapon, giving it a shape like a bow with an arrow permanently notched.

"Do you really think that's gonna help?!" the Ono Ganma snarled, before throwing more axes, forcing Ghost to evade.

"You really don't know who you're dealing with," Ghost chuckled as he found with Robin Hood, he could see things more clearly, including the gap that opened. Acting quickly, he scanned the eye symbol on his weapon. " **DAI KAIGAN! OMEGA STRIKE!** " the Driver called out as energy gathered at his weapon. To which he grabbed hold of the energy and pulled, forming an arrow of energy that he kept charging. While the Ganma kept throwing its axes, to which he evaded. Once he saw an opening, he pulled back his arm. "Arrow Snipe Omega!" he called out as he let go, the arrow flying right through the gap with perfect precision, spearing the Ganma through, causing his Parka to eject as black blood leaked from his abdomen, before both exploded, the Eyecon shattering when it landed to the ground.

Ghost let out a sigh after a moment, undoing his transformation seconds later "Glad that's over." Taiki said in relief.

"Nice job!" Ryuko said with a grin as she went up to him with a hand raised high, which he clapped with his own.

However, little did they know that they were being watched, as a figure held an odd device that looked like a mechanical cobra which soon turned into a cell phone. After watching them for a bit longer, the figured turned around and left, leaving the two in their reverie.

* * *

 **Ominous!**

 **But yeah, if you're smart, you know who the figure is, or rather, who they are filling in for, since I'm reusing neither Makoto nor Kanon.**

 **And also, yeah, we brought in Santa-chan from W, since we thought he would be the best way to get Santa Claus Damashi.**

 **As for the name we gave him, it's the name of his actor in case you didn't know.**

 **And with that, here's the Eyecon count!**

 **Ghost: Ore, Musashi, Galileo, Edison, Santa Claus, Robin Hood**

 **I'm sure you'll all curious about what's next, aren't you?**

 **You'll find out next time!**


	5. Chapter 4

**FINALLY!**

 **God we've been working on this chapter for a while.**

 **Yeah, this is the other story that we got stuck on, and we finally got some good ideas for it, since, you know, fully original chapter.**

 **Now, advance warning, this chapter does feature a cameo of a character from a whole other anime series, but it's just a cameo, so don't think too much about it.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy the next chapter of Taiki and Ryuko's journey.**

* * *

 _Days remaining: 91_

"Okay...this town seems pretty...normal," Taiki mused as he looked up from the map. The new town they were in seemed to have an air of normalcy to it, the people were going about their day to day business...honestly it just seemed so...plain. A rather sizeable contrast to the previous town they were in.

"Well, the place is pretty big, so if any crazies are around, they're probably all scattered about." Ryuko said with a shrug.

"Well, good news then, at least in my opinion. I can sense a LOT of paranormal activity, and I'm POSITIVE it isn't from just one single Ganma or Parka, so we got our work cut out for ourselves here!" Yurusen added suddenly, popping up between the two of them.

"That's both good and bad," Taiki sighed. "Well...guess we might as well get to it. Question is...where do we start?"

"How about some cafe or something where people like to hang out?" Ryuko suggested. "It worked with the ramen shop, it could work again."

"Fair point. Now we just need to find one such place," Taiki mused as they went into town. The next problem: They were spoiled for choice. Like any good town, there were plenty of hangout spots. Unfortunately, with there being so many...it was hard to choose which they'd use.

Eventually they settled on one randomly, and listened around.

Most of the rumors they heard seemed to be about typical teenage gossip and the like, and of course people praising Revocs, and it seemed like it would be a bust, until finally, they struck gold.

"Did you hear those weird rumors? About the university being haunted?"

The two looked at each other, before nodding as they listened to the person talking, making note of the university they were talking about so they could go and check it out.

As it turned out, the university in question was one of the main universities of the town, and rather old too it seemed. When they found said location…

"...odd architecture. You'd think we were in Europe or something," Taiki couldn't help but comment at the rather british looking campus.

"Well...at least it made it easy to find," Ryuko shrugged, before the two walked in. The place seemed nice enough, a generally good feel about it and plenty of students going about their day and working to their graduation. "Now...how do we ask?"

"Yeah...can't really ask them straight about their supposedly haunted campus…" Taiki mused...before turning and walking to...the janitor?

"Good day. Is there something you need?" the janitor said in a friendly tone. "I don't believe I've seen you before. Are you new?" he asked.

"Something like that," Taiki said with a smile. "I'm actually hoping you could tell me about some rumors I heard."

"Oh, you mean the ghosts?" the man asked.

"Those are the ones," Taiki nodded.

"Well...not much to say. I've seen the ghost here and there, but it don't bother anyone. Heck, if it weren't for the fact I saw it in a windless hall, I'd have sworn it looked like some hoodie that got caught in the wind," he said with a chuckle.

Taiki couldn't help but chuckle "So, a ghost who minds his own business huh? Pretty interesting."

"It's also definitely a Luminary." Yurusen whispered into Ryuko's ear, making her nod slightly.

"So...out of curiosity, where DOES the ghost show up?" Taiki asked.

* * *

"You know, when I went on this trip, I was expecting a lot of things. Acting like some idiot ghost hunter like on tv...not one of those things," Ryuko commented, as they were now currently at the campus after dark. It had taken some sneaking and roof hopping, but they'd managed to get into the campus in search of the Luminary that was haunting it.

"You're not the only one," Taiki sighed as they went searching for the art wing. Apparently the Luminary that was here liked to frequent that part of the campus.

"You're literally a ghost though." Yurusen added with a snicker.

"I don't need you to remind me." he noted in deadpan. "Anyway, let's hope whoever it is, they're easy to talk to."

"Hope who's easy to talk to?"

"The Luminary we're looking for obviously… wait… Ryuko, Yurusen… that wasn't either one of you was it?" Taiki asked after a moment.

"Nope." "Wasn't me."

Sighing out, Taiki turned around, and right behind them was a floating parka, pale green in color, with white and brown highlights, with paint palettes strapped to it's shoulders.

"Well...that was easy…" Ryuko blinked

"So uh...judging by the palette and everything...I'm guessing you're Leonardo Da Vinci, right?" Taiki guessed.

"The very same." Da Vinci said with a bow, before floating straight again "Might I ask why you are searching for me?"

"To make a long story short…" Musashi started as he came out of his eyecon "The creature that caused you to appear here is our enemy, and his kind hunts down those of our kind to become more powerful."

"I see…" Da Vinci mused. "I believe you. I could feel the sinister intent of that creature and I saw as the person it used to summon me died in the process. Though...why are you seeking me as well?" he asked.

"Well...simply put, I was killed, and promised that if I can gather 15 specific Luminaries...I'd be able to come back to life," Taiki admitted. "Plus I just can't let the Ganma use people for their own ends."

Da Vinci looked at him intently for a moment...before nodding slowly. "I see...yes, that is an understandable reason, and I don't see any lies in your eyes," he mused. "So then, what happens now?"

"Well, you're not one of the Luminaries that can help restore him, but we'd still like you to come with us so we can make sure the Ganma don't find you." Ryuko explained.

"Well...I don't have any real issues with that," Da Vinci said. "However, I'd still like to stay here for a bit longer," he said.

"Well...we're not rushing you," Taiki said, before turning to Yurusen. "There are other signatures here, right?" he checked.

"Yep! Looks like we're gonna be here for a while," Yurusen confirmed.

"Alright then. We'll go search for others first. We'll come back after we finish our investigations, then you can give us your answer then. Is that okay?" Taiki asked.

"That's perfectly reasonable. Thank you." Da Vinci said with a nod.

"Alright then. We'll come back another time," Taiki nodded. "For now...we might as well see what else we can find."

"Sense anything, Yurusen?" Ryuko asked the cycloptic spirit.

"Hm...okay...that's a surprise," Yurusen frowned.

"What's wrong?" Taiki asked.

"I'm sensing a Ganma...and it's pretty close," she said.

"Is it the one who summoned Da Vinci?" Taiki asked.

"No, while I didn't see who did it, while I was escaping, I lost track of it, and by chance, I saw it being destroyed. I don't know by who, but whoever it was, I managed to escape them as well," Da Vinci said.

Taiki blinked in surprise at that "What did they look like?"

Da Vinci hummed in thought "The best way I would describe them is… a blue demon."

"A blue demon?" Taiki repeated with a confused frown "I see…"

"That...sounds encouraging," Ryuko said sarcastically. "What's next? Its someone who has powers like Taiki?"

"...please don't tempt the universe," Taiki groaned. Someone having powers like his...would be REALLY bad. "At any rate, if another Ganma is around, we'd better deal with it quick."

"Right. Lead the way, Yurusen," Ryuko said, to which they were soon following the small ghost.

The group soon found themselves in what appeared to be a greenhouse...with someone standing before what appeared to be a large apple tree. It was a woman with long blue hair and a… generous figure, wearing a lab coat, with what appeared to be a simple dress underneath, and she seemed to be recording something.

The two blinked as they looked around, so far nothing. However, it seemed they weren't as quiet as they thought, as the woman turned around and blinked. "Huh? I didn't think anyone else other than the janitor was here at this time, and you two certainly don't seem to be students here."

"Ah...sorry to intrude," Taiki apologized.

"We just… uh…" Ryuko trailed off, quickly trying to think of something "We were curious about this school. It's one of our options for later down the line." she said, shrugging with a feeble grin.

"Oh? Well, in that case, allow me to welcome you, my name is Aki Nijou, I'm the science teacher here." the woman introduced herself with a smile. "Though I also double as the nurse, staff is a bit tight this year."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Taiki Kujira, and this is Ryuko Matoi. For now the two of us are...I guess travelers would be right. We wanted to see the rest of Japan before we make our next big step," Taiki said.

"I see. Yes, it is good to broaden your horizons before making such a big decisions," Aki nodded in agreement. "I hope your travels will help you in making the right decision."

"Yeah, so do we," Ryuko nodded. "So...what are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"Well...I'm actually measuring the falling apples," Aki said, revealing she was holding a stopwatch.

"Why is that?" Taiki blinked.

"I'm doing some research on gravity. All the factors that go into the mechanic of an object falling. If I can figure out and catalog the various factors and formulate an optimal mix of fast and slow falling, this research could be of use in further experiments my boyfriend and I have planned," she said.

"That so? What kind of experiments?" Ryuko asked, honestly curious.

"Well, to put it simply, we're trying to find various ways motion can generate energy, and we have gravity as our main focus." Aki explained, deciding it was best to not go into the long and boring details since they were just kids.

"Well, sounds like it could do some good if you manage to get nice results." Taiki said with a grin.

"That's the plan, we actually planted this tree together a long while ago, back when we were students ourselves, and it's stayed here ever since, so we decided it would be perfect to observe its apples." she added, smiling fondly as she looked at the tree.

"Well then, I hope everything works out well for you and your boyfriend," Ryuko nodded with a smile, before the two bid her goodbye and continued on their search.

"...and I just realized who might just be the next possible medium…" Taiki gulped not long after.

"Huh?" Ryuko blinked...before it hit her. "...gravity...Isaac Newton…!"

"Right, now problem is...where IS the Ganma?" Taiki frowned.

* * *

 _Days remaining: 90_

"One whole night...and nothing," Ryuko groaned as last night proved to be a rather...wasted...time. They spent the whole night searching and didn't find the Ganma, and Da Vinci was still intent on sticking around for now, so that was basically a night with nothing to show for it.

"Could be worse...not that I'm too keen about having used up 9 days already…" Taiki sighed. "Still...where the heck IS that Ganma?"

"Beats me, I'm surprised it hasn't done anything yet," Yurusen said with a shrug.

"Let's...just get something to eat first then we can figure it out," Ryuko sighed.

"You mean you'll get something to eat." Taiki corrected her with a sigh, making her wince as she patted his back, having forgotten he had no appetite anymore and couldn't even taste food.

"Sorry…" she groaned.

"Its...fine. It's...just not been easy," he sighed.

However, before they could actually go anywhere, the screaming started.

"What the-?!" both of them gasped in surprise, before rushing to the scene, just in time to see a statue in the middle of town teetering over the edge of it's pedestal, seemingly about to fall for no reason… except they could see the Ganma pushing it.

Said Ganma looked like his body was actually made out of springs, with arms and legs replaced with them, same for his stomach, while his head had several springs coming out of it like some sort of crazy hairdo, with a long, grey parka over his body, more springs hanging off the bottom trim.

"Okay...that's a pretty odd one," Taiki blinked, but didn't hesitate to summon his driver. "But doesn't make it any less dangerous," he added before activating his Eyecon and inserting it into the Driver. "Henshin!" he called out before pulling and pulling the handle, transforming into Ghost.

Using his levitation ability, he soon got up to where the Ganma was, and shot it with several shots from the GanGunSaber in Gun mode. "Hold it right there!"

"What the?!" the Ganma groaned. "Tch, are you here to get in my way?" he growled.

"What was your first clue?" Ghost deadpanned. "Now stop whatever it is you're doing!"

"No way! I'm not going to stop till I can get that energy for my prince!" the Ganma shot back, before jumping forward...and what a jump he had, as Ghost was caught off guard, and knocked in the face, landing on the ground.

"Well… that's annoying." Ghost said as he got back up with a groan "What does he mean by a prince though?" he wondered.

He ultimately decided not to think about it, when the Ganma came for him with another strike, which he quickly rolled out of. "Think later, fight now," he growled, before pulling out Musashi's Eyecon. "Musashi, lend me your power!" he called out, quickly switching to Musashi Damashii. Switching his weapon to dual sword mode, and charged forward. However, when he tried to strike the Ganma, it leaped out of the way easily.

"Nice try, but you can't catch me!" The Ganma laughed.

" _It seems he's going to be a rather tricky enemy."_ Musashi said, some slight aggravation in his tone.

"You're telling me." Ghost said with a groan, before attempting to attack the Ganma again, only for it to simply continue jumping out of the way.

" _Perhaps my power may work for this?"_ Edison's voice came.

"Worth a shot." Ghost said, before switching out the eyecons "Lend me your power Edison!" he said before the Musashi parka disappeared and the Edison parka dropped onto him, switching his weapon back to gun mode and starting to shoot electrically charged bullets at the Ganma… whom simply leaned his body out of the way.

"Hold still dammit!" Ghost shouted, getting frustrated as the Ganma evaded everything he tried.

"Nope, but I got more important things to deal with, so I'll be seeing ya hopefully never!" the Ganma laughed, before using its springing ability to jump away and soon vanished into the buildings.

Ghost just stood there for a good moment, until "Are you fucking kidding me?!" he shouted in annoyance "Just like that?! The jerk runs away?!"

" _It seems some Ganma are not interested in fighting per say,"_ Edison mused. " _Let's just be glad this one was one of them for now."_

"Yeah, you're right. Let's focus on what we can for now," Ghost nodded with a sigh, before going back to where Ryuko was. She couldn't actually join in because there were other people around, and the last thing they needed was people thinking her crazy attacking 'thin air'.

"How'd it go?" Ryuko asked, having only seen rough bits of the fight.

"Not so great. Aside from literally not being able to hit it, it ran off by itself...though it DID say something about a 'prince'," Ghost sighed, before quickly reverting to Taiki.

"A prince? So the Ganma have some kind of royalty?" Ryuko mused.

"Looks like it. And if they have a prince they probably have a king as well, question is, why are they invading our world?" Taiki wondered.

"Heck if I know," Ryuko shrugged. "Still...that's not really comforting to know that these things are organized," she frowned.

"Well...nothing we can actually do about it right now. Let's try and figure out what that Ganma was doing and who its affecting," Taiki mused.

"Well, it was making something try to fall, so… maybe it was that Aki woman from last night," Yurusen suggested, suddenly popping up.

"I was thinking that too. Guess we should check on her," Taiki nodded with a frown.

* * *

"...okay...she seems normal," Ryuko frowned as the two of them were back at the campus and saw the woman, collecting data the same as last night.

"...and she's really hard at work," Taiki mused. "Gotta respect her dedication though."

"Well...guess we were barking up the wrong tree," Ryuko sighed, as they turned to leave. However, as they were passing a few students, they overheard something that caught their attention.

"I'm getting worried about Ms. Nijou," one of them mused.

"Yeah, hasn't she been spending WAY too much time in there lately? Feels like all she cares about is recording that data. She's even had to be dragged to meals just to eat," another nodded.

Ryuko and Taiki both paused at that, before looking at each other, and sighing "Oh goddammit…" they groaned. With that they turned around, and ran back to the greenhouse...only to find it empty. "...shit."

"If you're looking for the woman who was here, she's already left," came a familiar voice, to which they turned and saw Da Vinci floating down. "I sensed something strange, and arrived to see her acting like a woman possessed, and that creature hovering around her. She suddenly started muttering about gathering more data, and ran off with a crazed look, that creature following her," he explained.

"Shit, we gotta hurry." Ryuko said urgently.

"Right." Taiki nodded, before turning to the spirit of Da Vinci "Leonardo, would you please help us?"

Da Vinci's spirit closed his eyes, before opening them after a few moments, nodding "Of course, I think my abilities may be able to help. I just hope we won't be too late." he said, Taiki smiling as he made the driver appear around his waist, before Da Vinci flew into it, creating a new eyecon, one that was lime green in color, featuring the letters LV over an image of Da Vinci's famous anatomical sketch, albeit as a green silhouette, and beneath that was the name DA VINCI.

"Okay, so she ran off wanting to get more data...on things falling…" Ryuko frowned, before gulping when she realized the implications.

"They're gonna make things fall. All sorts of things just so she can record the data, and I doubt she's fully aware of what she's doing," Taiki nodded with a frown.

"Well...if there's ANYTHING that might be good from that, they can't be too hard to find," Ryuko frowned as they ran out of the building. They didn't have any time to lose.

* * *

Ryuko's words proved to be quite true, as it wasn't long before they found a small trail of destruction. Stuff tipping over, sections of buildings breaking off, and even a car going off a highway (though thankfully the passengers managed to get out before it tipped over and fell.)

"Damn...it REALLY puts into perspective how those Ganma can twist even the best of intentions to something awful," Taiki growled.

The two didn't waste time, following the trail of destruction, and soon saw a statue fall over and break...with Aki scribbling away not too far away, muttering something under her breath.

"Ok so… do we talk to her first or…?" Ryuko asked unsure.

"Best to try and get the Ganma away from her." Taiki said, summoning the driver once again and pulling out his new eyecon "Lend me your power Da Vinci." he said, before inserting the eyecon and closing the lid, earning the usual jingle as the parka flew out "Henshin!" and then he pulled and pushed the lever, causing the eyecon to change, showing the face now, as the armor formed on his body and the parka deposited itself on his shoulders " **KAIGAN: DA VINCI! ISSAIGASSAI! CHO TENSAI!"** and the faceplate slid up along with the horn, the same as was on the eyecon.

Not wasting time, he surged forward, a brush appearing in his hand, before with a flourish, he sent a stream of ink which caught the Ganma by surprise, allowing him to kick him away. "That's enough from you!" he growled.

"You again?! Stop getting in my way!" the Ganma growled.

"Only when you stop using Ms. Nijou's dreams to further your own!" Ghost shot back.

"What's wrong with that?! She gets what she wants and I get what I want, everyone wins!" the Ganma countered, shooting out his fist which stretched and narrowly missed Ghost.

"Not if she gets killed in the process!" Ghost countered, using the brush to create projectiles and throwing them at the Ganma, who evaded.

"I don't have time for you! I've got the biggest fish to fry!" the Ganma growled, before throwing several more Eyecons which broke and turned into Commandos. "Go play with these guys first!" the Ganma laughed, before jumping away.

"Dammit, wait!" Ghost shouted, but the Commandos soon rushed him, forcing him back.

With the Ganma gone, Ryuko noticed that Aki seemed rather dazed, running to her and helping her stand "Ms. Nijou, are you alright?"

"Oh… what… what was I doing?" Aki muttered, rubbing her forehead.

Ryuko didn't get to try more though, before she felt herself get shoved away, looking back to see the Ganma standing next to Aki.

"It's time for the final experiment." he whispered into her ear, and just like that, Aki gained an intense look on her face.

"Yes… the final experiment…" she trailed off, before she started running.

"Hey, hold up!" Ryuko shouted, trying to catch her, but the woman was surprisingly fast "Dammit… how does she run with those huge things?!" she asked incredulously, before chasing after them.

While that was happening…

"Take this!" Ghost shouted, spinning around and creating waves of ink which hit and destroyed several Commandos. "Okay, this is taking too long!" he growled, before pulling the lever.

" **DAI KAIGAN! DA VINCI: OMEGA DRIVE!** "

The paintbrush became multi colored, before Ghost began painting like crazy. "Great Artistic Experiment!" he called out as the waves of paint trapped all he Commandos, before with one final flourish, the Ganma were suddenly slammed into a canvas that appeared and became part of a scenery painting...which looked rather messy. "No no, this just won't do," Ghost sighed, before the painting fell over and exploded.

" _We'd better hurry. I think I noticed them going back to the university,_ " Da Vinci urged.

"Right, let's go!" Ghost nodded.

Ahead of him, Ryuko reached the university just a minute behind Aki, following her through the halls, till coming back out near the greenhouse, her eyes growing wide in realisation as she ran in, seeing Aki about to swing an axe onto the apple tree with a mad look in her eyes, before she tackled her to the ground, getting the axe away at the same time "What are you doing?!"

"This is the last bit of data I need! With this we can get the final piece of data and the next step can begin!" Aki shouted back, her eyes practically glowing with madness.

"What about your boyfriend?! Isn't he going to be back soon?! What would he think if he saw the tree you two planted together chopped down?!" Ryuko shouted, hoping that would get through to the woman.

"Don't listen to her. She's trying to-" the Ganma whispered, but stopped short when a blast of ink sealed his mouth shut, sending him flying back.

"Do us a favor and shut up," Ghost said flatly.

THAT had an effect, as Aki stopped. "He...he...he wouldn't want this…" she started to realize.

"Then stop it already! Don't give up what's really important for something you can do in time!" Ryuko shouted.

"That...that's right...we wanted to use this to help the world...to make it better...that's what science and knowledge is SUPPOSED to do!" she realized, before the madness seemed to leave her, and her body glowed...along with the apple tree.

"Here it comes!" Yurusen shouted in excitement.

"Got it!" Ghost nodded before forming the seal, and the light from the tree collected and formed a new Parka.

This parka was blue in color, with silver shoulders, and attached to to said shoulders wear a pair of large, spherical gauntlets, the left one having a ring shape around it, a pair of glowing blue eyes within the dark hood "My… how curious… I do believe I was supposed to be dead."

"Sorry Mr. Newton, but we don't have that much time to explain, to make a long story short, that monster over there is trying to use you for evil, while we're trying to protect you. There's a whole lot more, but that's the short version." Ghost said quickly.

"I… see…" Newton said slowly, humming as he looked around the greenhouse "Well… I think I would much prefer to be under your protection young man."

"Perfect, just come in here." Ghost said, putting a hand beneath the eyehole of his driver, Newton's parka flying into it a moment later, forming a blue eyecon that depicted an apple falling with an arrow pointing downwards above it on the top portion, with the number 04 over it, and the name NEWTON underneath.

"You are SERIOUSLY getting on my nerves!" The Ganma roared after ripping the ink off. "I am going to put you out of my misery if its the last thing I do!"

"Bring it!" Ghost glared. "Newton, lend me your power!" he called out as he switched out Da Vinci's Eyecon with Newton's, summoning the new parka as he pulled and pushed the lever quickly, the parka depositing itself on his shoulders " **KAIGAN: NEWTON! RINGO GA RAKKA! HIKIYOSE MAKKA~!"** and the face plate slid up, his hands covered with the large gauntlets.

"Give me those Eyecons!" the Ganma shouted...before he stopped in mid-air. "Huh?"

"Gravity can be a real harsh mistress sometimes," Ghost chuckled as the Ganma was caught in a wave from the gloves, stopping it in mid-air. "But in this case, I call it karma," he added, before the Ganma was suddenly launched back.

"Tch. Not bad, but you'll never catch me!" the Ganma shouted as he started jumping all over around.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood for these games," Ghost growled, before pulling the lever thanks to the power of the gauntlets.

" **DAI KAIGAN! NEWTON: OMEGA DRIVE!** "

"Great Graviton Press!" Ghost called out, crossing his arms, and catching the Ganma in the field and pressing him down.

"This...is...heavy!" he gasped, his springy body pressing down but able to withstand it. "You're...wasting...your...time…! I...can...hold...this!"

"I noticed. Too bad for you, that's not what I was going for. Have a nice trip though," Ghost smirked, as he increased the pressure till the Ganma was nearly flat...then abruptly stopped.

"Yaaaaaaa-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooey!" was all that was heard from the Ganma as he flew up into the sky… becoming nothing but a twinkle.

"...you think he's gonna come down anytime soon?" Yurusen asked as she popped up next to him.

"...how much mass DOES a Ganma have and can they just phase through anything?" Ghost asked.

"Not much, they ARE somewhat like spirits," Yurusen shrugged. "Ooooh, I get ya. Guess that Ganma is going to the moon," she laughed.

"Pretty much, yeah," Ghost nodded.

Meanwhile…

"Okay, nothing seems strange, all systems are normal," a random astronaut said from within the station they were in. Idly looking out of the window, they blinked when they could have sworn they saw something fly by, but the instruments didn't pick anything up and it was just a moment, so with a shrug they went back to work.

* * *

"Thank you again for helping me come to my senses, I honestly don't know what came over me." Aki said with a sigh as she thanked the two once more.

"We were happy to help Ms. Nijou. Hope things turn out well for you." Taiki said with a smile.

"Who knows maybe your boyfriend will be interested in the weird data you found without him." Ryuko added with a laugh.

Aki laughed nervously "Yes… I certainly hope so."

* * *

 **And there!**

 **So, what did you all think?**

 **First off, another double eyecon chapter, this time we get Da Vinci and Newton.**

 **As well, cameo from Maken Ki in the form of Aki Nijou, aka miss massive milk tanks.**

 **We mostly just decided that since, hey, we used Santa-chan from W last time, what's stopping us from pulling a cameo from a whole other franchise.**

 **But yeah, don't worry people, she's just a cameo, though maybe she'll get some appearances again later on, she won't be part of the main cast at all.**

 **Anyway, before we go, time for the eyecon count!**

 **Ghost: Ore, Musashi, Galileo, Edison, Santa Claus, Robin Hood, Da Vinci, Newton**

 **And there we go people, hope to see you all next time!**


End file.
